For commercial litigation and cross-border insolvency matters, it is very much ‘business as usual’ in the Supreme Court of Bermuda (the “Court”). Since the issuance of Circular No. 15 of 2020 (Updated Transitional Re-opening of the Courts due to Covid-19) on 30 June 2020, the Commercial Court has been conducting both interlocutory hearings and substantive trials on an in-person basis. At the same time, the Court has embraced the use of videoconferencing to facilitate the hearing of matters where witnesses, counsel and clients may be unable to travel or otherwise unable to attend Court.

Certain hearings, and in particular those which concern the insolvency and restructuring of listed companies, are urgent by their very nature and are well-suited to being conducted by way of video conference should circumstances require. Such was the case with the Court’s recent hearings concerning Agritrade Resources Limited and FDG Electric Vehicles Limited, both companies being listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange (“HKEx”) and suffering from severe liquidity constraints that impacted upon their ability to continue as a going concern.

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