On 17th October 2025 Mr Justice Foxton handed down judgment on the appeal of the decision of ICC Judge Greenwood in Pagden & others v Ridgley (sub nom Re Orthios Eco Parks (Anglesey) Ltd & Re Orthios Power (Anglesey) Ltd) handed down on 28th November 2024.
Foxton J’s decision upholds ICC Judge Greenwood’s “careful and well-researched” judgment and rejects the various arguments of the Appellants who sought to persuade the Court that remuneration and expenses incurred by an administrator in realising a fixed charge asset were subject to challenge under rule 18.34 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (“the Rules”).
The judgment emphasises the distinction between fixed charge assets, which fall outside of an insolvent estate, and unsecured assets, which are to be realised for the benefit of the company’s general body of creditors together with floating charge assets which parliament has determined ought also to be available for general creditors and the payment of insolvency expenses.
The Judge rejected arguments that in agreeing remuneration with a fixed charge creditor an administrator was acting in breach of his or her fiduciary duties or that excluding fixed charge assets remuneration from the statutory scheme under Part 18 of the Rules creates undue uncertainty or prejudices the general body of creditors. The Court identified that were rule 18.34 to apply to fixed charge remuneration, it could in certain circumstances have the effect of excluding the fixed charge creditor from involvement in the determining of the appropriate remuneration and expenses to be taken from the proceeds of the fixed charge assets.
As at first instance, the Judge recognised the possibility that a creditor could challenge excessive remuneration via different routes if appropriate.
Matthew Weaver KC, instructed by Mezzle Law, acted both on appeal and below for the successful Respondent former administrator. The full judgment of Foxton J can be accessed here and of ICC Judge Greenwood can be accessed here.
