Challenging statutory demands on jurisdictional grounds (Peretie v Eden Farm SRL)
Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: The court held that when deciding whether to set aside a statutory demand it was not open to the court to take into account any jurisdictional issues. However, the court did provide guidance on what should happen if an application to set aside a statutory demand was dismissed, but there was clearly an arguable case on jurisdiction to be determined if and when a petition for bankruptcy was issued. In such a scenario, the court should ensure that the time from when the creditor is allowed to present a bankruptcy petition, set out in the Order dismissing the application to set aside the statutory demand, provides the debtor with an adequate window in which the debtor could apply for any anti-suit injunction, so that the jurisdictional issue can be tested by the court before a bankruptcy petition is issued. Written by Mark Sands, Head of Personal Insolvency at Opus Business Advisory Group.