Re A. & B. Taxis Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1931
• Date: 01 January 1931
• Docket Number: (1929. No. P. 476.)
• Court: High Court (Irish Free State)

(1929. No. P. 476.)

In re A. & B. Taxis, Ltd.

In the MATTER of the COMPANIES ACTS, 1908 to 1917,and in the MATTER of A. & B. TAXIS

LIMITED.

Insurance (Unemployment) - Contributions payable by a company in respect of employed persons - Company being wound up compulsorily - Priority claimed for payment of arrears of contributions - Priority limited to contributions payable during the four months before the commencement of the winding up - Crown debt - Prerogative of the Crown - Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908 (8 Ed. 7 c. 69), sects, 186, 209 -Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 30), sect. 26,sub-sect. 1.

Application by the Liquidator of the A. & B. Taxis, Limited, a Company in liquidation under an order of the Court, for the purpose of obtaining the decision of the Court as to whether the claim of the Department of Industry and Commerce made in this matter for arrears of unemployment insurance contributions other than such portion thereof as was payable under the provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, sect. 26, sub-sect. 1 (which had already been paid by the Liquidator), was payable in priority to the claims of the general creditors of the said Company.

By order of the Court, dated the 22nd November, 1929, it was ordered that the said Company be wound up by the Court under the provisions of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, Arthur H. Walkey being appointed official Liquidator of the Company and Harry R. Maunsell being appointed to represent the creditors of the Company.

In answer to the advertisement for claims against the Company the Liquidator received from the Department of Industry and Commerce a claim in respect of unpaid contributions under the Unemployment Insurance Acts in respect of workmen employed by the Company. This claim showed that very considerable arrears had been allowed to accumulate. In the Company's winding-up portion of the claim which was preferential and in respect of the period prior to the order for winding-up had been paid, but there still remained a sum of £306 19s. which the Department claimed to have paid as a State debt, ranking next after the preferential debts and in priority to the ordinary creditors. The Department's claim, which was dated the 14th January, 1930, was as follows:— "The Department of Industry and Commerce claim the sum of £341 17s. 1¹/₂d. in respect of arrears of contributions under the Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1926, payable by the Company up to the date of the winding-up in respect of the undermentioned employees. In pursuance of sect. 26 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, the sum of £34 18s. 1¹/₂d., of which particulars are given hereunder, is claimed as a preferential...