Company

It was settled law that, if a company could demonstrate that the alleged debt on which a petition was founded was genuinely disputed on substantial grounds, the court would strike out the petition. The principle was essentially a statement of general practice. A petitioner had to establish its standing to present a winding-up petition. Those with standing were defined for the present purposes by s 124 of the Insolvency Act 1986 and included any creditor or creditors. Where the company disputed any liability to a person petitioning as a creditor, it was taking issue with the petitioner’s standing to present the petition. It would, in theory, be open to the court dealing with the winding-up petition to try that issue itself, as in effect a preliminary issue. However, for at least three sound reasons, that was not the practice of the court: (i) it was not the function of the Companies Court to try disputed debt claims;