Judgment: Sunday River Citrus Company & Another v Lonetree Citrus & Others
25 September 2024
Dear Member
Attached a reportable judgment from the Gqeberha High Court, Sundays River Citrus Company (Pty) Ltd & Another in re D J Bouwer and Lonetree Citrus CC and Others.
The judgement:
• Provides clarity on when court-ordered business rescue proceedings commence i.e. upon the granting of the order and confirms that there is no retrospectivity in the provisions;
• Confirms that only affected persons are entitled to participate in the (main) application for business rescue – as opposed to those who are not affected persons but have a “direct and substantial interest” in the application (the test for intervention in terms of Rules and the common law); and
• Confirms that “creditor” does not only refer to a creditor with a monetary debt or a debt due at commencement of the business rescue proceedings – and consequently a creditor with a non-monetary claim or a claim that will fall due during the proceedings is an affected person and entitled to intervene.
Kindly sent to us by Adv. Claire Morgan of the Cape Bar.
Take care,
René Bekker
Chief Operating Officer