TMI Blog1968 (5) TMI 35X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... me accident. On April 26, 1963, the petitioner issued a writ against the company claiming damages under the Fatal Accident Acts and the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1934. In June, 1965, the company's name was struck off the register under section 353 of the Companies Act, 1948, as being, if I may put it briefly, a defunct company. Notwithstanding this event, which was duly advertised in the London Gazette on July 2, 1965, the proceedings against the company have continued; and various interlocutory orders have, I am told, been made since that date, in some cases, at least, reciting the appearance of counsel for the company. The plight of the company has now come to the notice of those engaged in the action, and in these circum ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Companies Act, 1948, is also not available. Under section 352(1), where a company has been ''dissolved" (a word plainly applicable to the present case), upon application being made for the purpose by the liquidator of the company or by "any other person who appears to the court to be interested," the court may make an order declaring the dissolution to be void. The petitioner is clearly a person who "appears to the court to be interested," but the right to apply under the section is subject to a time limit, namely, "any time within two years of the date of the dissolution." Here more than two years has passed since the date of the dissolution of the company. Accordingly, it appears that if the petitioner is to have redress, that redre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and the assistance of the Registrar, I have seen the papers in that case. The petition discloses that it was presented by the Inland Revenue Commissioners in respect of certain assessments to income tax amounting in all to a little under 6,000. The debt was thus in respect of fixed and quantified sums assessed on the company, although they were then contingent to the , extent of being the subject of an appeal. Here I have before me a wholly unqualified claim for damages arising out of an accident. Accordingly, when the facts in In re Avondale Hotel Southport Ltd. are examined they do not by themselves necessarily establish the proposition for which Mr. Thomas contends. Mr. Thomas also referred me to In re Telegraph Construction Co. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le in praesenti, but it is admissible as a proof for something which may ripen into a right to present payment. These lessors have a claim which is admissible to proof for a sum which may become payable at some future day. and they are entitled to ask the court to stop a distribution of the assets amongst shareholders until their claim is secured." I was also referred to the decisions of Wright J. and of the Court of Appeal in In re Midland Coal, Coke Iron Co [1895] 1 Ch. 267, CA. Here again the statutory provisions were quite different; they related to the approval of creditors to schemes of arrangement. Referring to the Joint Stock Companies Arrangement Act, 1870, Wright J. said Ibid. 271 : "I may take it that section 2 is inten ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the wording of section 353 (6) of the Act of 1948 to see if I can detect in it any tendency to require the somewhat protean word "creditor" to be construed widely or narrowly. In my judgment the section contains a sufficient indication that "creditor" ought to be construed widely. It begins with the words : "If a company or any member or creditor thereof feels aggrieved by the company having been struck off the register..." The sub-section is thus concerned with a grievance on the part of some person, whether a company or a member or a creditor. Here we have the case of a petitioner who, at the time when the company was struck off, had an action in being against the company which was rendered ineffective by the disappearance of the comp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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