Samuel Hodge appeared for the successful Applicant in the case of Liberty Leasing v Palmer & Ors [2026] 1990 (Ch)
Following a 4-day trial, ICC Judge Prentis gave an ex tempore judgment, granting an application made by Liberty under rule 15.35 IR 2016 (pursuant to which creditors may challenge the admission of other creditors’ votes in decision making procedures in insolvency situations).
Judge Prentis held that 3 of 4 alleged creditors’ claims for principal sums allegedly loaned to the bankrupt had not been proven as having been made on the balance of probabilities, and that all 4 alleged creditors’ claims for compound interest (including one for over £18,000,000) were fictional and being advanced by friends and family of a bankrupt to assist him to control a vote and frustrate other genuine creditors’ wishes that the Official Receiver be replaced with a private IP as trustee in bankruptcy.
Following Samuel cross-examining 5 witnesses of fact during the trial, the judgment deals at length with the reasons why the Judge rejected many of the Respondents’ factual cases, and held that a number of documents disclosed by the Respondents to support their alleged debts were fabricated.
