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Financial Twilight Re-Appraisal: Ending the Judicially Created Quagmire of Fiduciary Duties to Creditors
University of Pittsburgh Law Review ( IF 0.107 ) Pub Date : 2017-03-29 , DOI: 10.5195/lawreview.2016.450
Anil Hargovan , Timothy M. Todd

Directors owe fiduciary duties of care and loyalty to their corporations, and by extension to their shareholders. When a corporation approaches or enters insolvency, however, courts have recently found that the fiduciary duty calculus may change. Recognizing that creditors have financial interests similar to those of shareholders at or near insolvency, courts in several countries have extended fiduciary duty protection to creditors on equitable grounds. This trend has led to a state of flux and uncertainty in corporate law. Consequently, courts and commentators are battling to fully comprehend the controversial subject of director fiduciary duties to creditors in various jurisdictions. Due to this jurisprudential flux, unresolved issues include, for example, the core notion that the duty arises when the company enters into an “ill-defined sphere” known as the “zone” or “vicinity” of insolvency. The law is remarkably short of specific judicial guidance as to how directors who engage in commercial risk-taking with a view to corporate rescue should discharge their duties without harming the interests of creditors. Indeed, the debate continues even on the critical doctrinal question of whether such a duty is even needed. This Article uses corporate law in both the United States and Australia as emblematic of the real practical concerns inherent in the expansion of fiduciary duties. Consequently, the Article argues that the judicial recognition of directors’ fiduciary duties to creditors when at or near insolvency is objectionable, both from a policy and a doctrinal standpoint, and that any further attempt to develop the common law in this regard should be jettisoned in favor of reliance upon the existing, or modified, statutory regime aimed at creditor protection during times of financial distress.

中文翻译:

金融暮光重新评估:结束司法造成的对债权人的信托责任的泥潭

董事对其公司负有谨慎和忠诚的受托责任,进而对股东负有责任。然而,当公司接近或进入破产程序时,法院最近发现信托责任计算可能会发生变化。认识到债权人的财务利益与破产或接近破产的股东的财务利益相似,一些国家的法院已根据公平原则将信托责任保护范围扩大到债权人。这种趋势导致公司法处于不断变化和不确定的状态。因此,法院和评论员正在努力充分理解各司法管辖区中董事对债权人的受托责任这一有争议的主题。由于这种法理变化,未解决的问题包括,例如,核心概念是,当公司进入一个被称为“区域”或“附近”破产的“定义不明确的领域”时,就会产生义务。对于董事以拯救企业为目的进行商业冒险的董事如何在不损害债权人利益的情况下履行职责,法律缺乏明确的司法指导。事实上,甚至在是否需要这种义务这一关键的教义问题上,辩论仍在继续。本条使用美国和澳大利亚的公司法作为扩大受托责任所固有的实际实际问题的象征。因此,该条款认为,从政策和理论的角度来看,司法承认董事在破产或接近破产时对债权人的信托义务是令人反感的,
更新日期:2017-03-29
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