Silence is the Enemy

Although this blog is intended to cover Swedish law issues I have to tell you about "Silence is the Enemy"

Silence is the Enemy is a campaign initiative against the rape and abuse of women and girls in Liberia and around the world started by Sheril Kirshenbaum in her blog The Intersection.

The initiative has also a Facebook Group to join.

In her original blog post Sheril Kirshenbaum wrote i a:

"Today begins a very important initiative called Silence Is The Enemy to help a generation of young women half a world away.Why? Because they are our sisters and children–the victims of sexual abuse who don’t have the means to ask for help. We have power in our words and influence. Along with our audience, we’re able to speak for them. I’m asking all of you–bloggers, writers, teachers, and concerned citizens–to use whatever platform you have to call for an end to the rape and abuse of women and girls in Liberia and around the world.

In regions where fighting has formally ended, rape continues to be used as a weapon. As Nicholas Kristof recently wrote from West Africa, ‘it has been easier to get men to relinquish their guns than their sense of sexual entitlement.’ The war has shattered norms, training some men to think that ‘when they want sex, they need simply to overpower a girl.’ An International Rescue Committee survey suggests 12 percent of girls aged 17 and under acknowledged having been sexually abused in some way over the previous 18 months. Further, of the 275 new sexual violence cases treated Jan-April by Doctors Without Borders, 28 percent involve children aged 4 or younger, and 33 percent involve children aged 5 through 12. That’s 61% age 12 or under. We read about their plight and see the figures, but it’s so easy to feel helpless to act in isolation. But these are not statistics, they are girls. Together we can do more. Mass rape persists because of inertia so let’s create momentum."

Many bloggers are blogging to support this initiative. I have noted i a Nicolas Kristof at the New York Times, Alun Salt in Archaeoastronomy and many many more

Swedish Bankruptcy Law – US Domiciled Swedish Debtor

I received the following comment/question to one of my posts on "Swedish Law – Company Reorganisation":

I'm not sure this is the right place to post this....I came across your blog doing some internet research on Swedish bankruptcy laws...

My husband is a Swedish citizen who took out a loan to start a photography business (I think it is actually a personal loan though). He met me in the US and we have been married here for a year now, struggling to make payments on just the interest alone as finding work for him here has been difficult. He could not afford the union dues for having his business open in Sweden so we closed that earlier this year.

This weekend our apartment was broken into and $7,000 of camera equipment that he used the loan to purchase was stolen. We do not have renter's insurance. He owes over twice that amount still ($17,000) on the loan, and now has no way of making money without his camera. We are considering filing bankruptcy in Sweden for his debt, but we are not sure how that works now that he is a resident here (still a Swedish citizen and the loan is Swedish). My income is barely enough to pay rent and buy groceries.

So it goes.

I would be incredibly grateful for any advice. If we go through with this, I am assuming we will need a lawyer to assist?

Thanks.
Megan

ANSWER:
As the above question highlights an important difference between US and Swedish bankruptcy law I give my answer here as a separate blog post.

First of all I think it is very important to note that a private person is not released from his or her debts through bankruptcy proceedings according to Swedish law. This means that there is normally no reason for a private person to apply for bankruptcy in Sweden.

As your husband is domiciled in the US, I base the following short answer to that situation. Special rules apply to debtors domiciled in the Scandinavian countries and in an EU state.

A Swedish citizen domiciled in the US could be subject to an application for bankruptcy by a creditor. Such an application could be made with reference to the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure, Chapter 10, Section 1, which reads:

“A person with no known residence in or outside Sweden may be
sued at the place where he is sojourning. If he is a Swedish citizen
and sojourning outside the Realm or at an unknown place, he may
be sued at the place within the Realm where he last resided or
sojourned.”

If he is declared bankrupt in Sweden, according to Swedish law, the bankruptcy estate will encompass, at least formally, all of his assets irrespective of whether such assets are in Sweden or outside. However, to what extent the Swedish bankruptcy receiver will get any cooperation from any state or federal authorities in the US in order to gain control of his US assets is a question for these authorities.

Swedish Law – SAAB Reorganisation - New Prolongation

The Vänersborg City Court announced this morning its decision that the SAAB reorganisation shall continue until August 20, 2009.

Swedish Law – Purchasing Real Estate in Sweden - Sale of Co-Owned Property

I have received a question about the sale of a property by a 50 % owner.

Question:

Is it possible for a 50% share owner of a property to order the sale of the entire property without the consent of the remaining partners?

As my answer may be hard to find among the old posts on Purchases of real estate in Sweden I publish it here.

Answer:

Yes and no. I am a lawyer you know ;)

The rules of the Swedish Act on Co-Ownership (Lag (1904:48 s.1) om samäganderätt) apply.

According to this act, if a house or other real property is owned by more than one person, each co-owner, irrespective of the share he owns, has the right to go to court and ask the court to appoint a custodian, who will then arrange for the sale of the property through a public sale.

The Pirate Bay Sentence Today

The four men connected with The Pirate Bay were sentenced today to one year of imprisonment each for being accessories to copyright infringement. They shall also pay damages in an amount of SEK 30 million corresponding to about US$ 3.5 million. The Local has more in this article Pirate Bay guilty.

Swedish Law – SAAB Reorganisation

The Vänersborg City Court decided today at the creditors’ meeting that the SAAB reorganisation shall continue until May 20, 2009. At the request of some creditors the court appointed a creditors’ committee. As mentioned in an earlier blog post the administrator shall consult with the committee in all significant issues.

Swedish Law – SAAB Reorganisation

As mentioned in an earlier blog post the SAAB creditors’ meeting will take place in Vänersborg today. Further information can be found in this article in the Local.

Swedish Law – Company Reorganisation – Compulsory Composition (continued)

Only creditors whose claims arose prior to the application for company reorganisation may participate in composition proceedings.

A creditor whose claim may be satisfied through set-off or whose claim is subject to rights of priority may not participate in the proceedings. If a creditor has a subordinated claim, he is not allowed to participate in the composition proceedings, unless the other creditors who are participating in the proceedings should consent to this.

If a creditor waives its rights of set-off or priority, in whole or in part, the creditor may participate in the proceedings to a corresponding extent. It should be noted that a creditor may participate in the proceedings, even if his claim is not due and payable or is tied to certain conditions in order to be payable.

(to be continued)

Swedish Law – Company Reorganisation – Compulsory Composition

According to the old Composition Act of 1970 the creditors could be force to accept a composition provided a majority of the creditors voted for such a solution. The procedure under the old act was not part of a reorganisation procedure but a separate institute.


When the new legislation on company reorganisation was introduced in 1996 the old Composition Act was recalled and the composition procedure was integrated as a part of the new reorganisation procedure. It is, thus, no longer possible to obtain a forced composition outside the scope of a reorganisation.


Under normal circumstances and in order to be valid

• the composition must provide all similarly entitled creditors with similar rights,
  
• the composition must provide at least 25 percent of the amount of the claims, and
  
• the prescribed minimum distribution shall be paid within one year following the composition order.
  

(to be continued)

Swedish Law – Company Reorganisation – Termination of Reorganisation

Before I go into the next steps in a successful company reorganisation, I find it appropriate to mention the situations where the reorganisation will be terminated by the district court. They are:

• when the purpose of the reorganisation is deemed to have been achieved,
  
  
• if the company requests a termination and a decision to proceed to composition has not been passed,
  
  
• if the company fails to participate in the creditors’ meeting,
  
  
• if the administrator or a creditor so requests and the purpose of the reorganisation is deemed not to be possible to achieve and
  
  
• if a special cause otherwise exists for a termination.
  

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the time period during which the administrator should finalise his action to achieve a reorganisation is three months from the date of the reorganisation decision by the court. In line with that, the court has a duty to terminate the reorganisation three months from that decision.

However, if special causes exsist, the court may prolong this period by additional periods, each time of a maximum of three months, but the total reorganisation period may not exceed one year.

Swedish Law – Company Reorganisation – Right to Set-Off (continued)

The first of the exemptions from the right to set-off mentioned in my last blog post covers claims on the company acquired from a third party later than three months prior to the date when the application for company reorganisation was filed. Such a claim may only be offset against a claim which the company possessed at the time at which the creditor acquired its claim, if the acquisition could be deemed as ordinary.

Also exempted are claims where the creditor has incurred liabilities towards the company under such circumstances as may be equated with payment other than by customary means of payment, but only to the extent such payment could have been the subject of recovery procedures according to the recovery rules in the Swedish Company Reorganisation Act (1996:764). These rules will be covered later as they are part of the provisions regarding judicial composition.

It should be noted that a claim of a guarantor or other person who has acquired a claim, because he has satisfied an obligation (right of recourse), shall be deemed to have been acquired at the time when the obligation of the guarantor or such other person arose and not at the later date when the claim was acquired.

If, after the date when the application for company reorganisation was filed, the company transfers a claim in such a manner that a creditor thereby loses its right to set-off, the company shall compensate the creditor.

Swedish Law – Company Reorganisation – Right to Set-Off

The basic rule concerning right to set-off is that anyone who held a claim against the company when the application for company reorganisation was filed has the right to offset such claim against claims which the company had at such date against such person. The right to set-off applies even if the claim was not due and payable.

There are, of course, some exemptions to this basic rule and I will cover them in my next blog post.