CREDITORS WILL BE ABLE TO DECIDE THE FATE OF THE PARTIALLY PAID FOR BANKRUPT GOODS

A supply contract was concluded between the plaintiff and the defendant, under the terms of which the latter undertook to install elevators on a phased payment basis – 80% of the advance, and the remainder – after receiving notification of the readiness of the equipment. In case of non-payment of 20% of the cost of the goods, the contract provided for the possibility of the supplier retaining the elevators on storage conditions.

The plaintiff paid for the goods partially, after which he was declared bankrupt, and the claim for payment of the remaining cost, as well as the costs of storing the goods, were included in the register.

The plaintiff, believing that the inclusion of the creditor's rights in the register is already secured, filed a lawsuit with the court. As a result of its consideration, the courts of three instances refused to satisfy the claims with reference to the conditional fulfillment of the obligation (delivery is carried out after payment of the goods in full).

The plaintiff filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. As the supreme court pointed out, the mere inclusion of a creditor's claim in the register does not provide any guarantees of its subsequent satisfaction, and therefore it is necessary to establish a balance of interests of the creditor and the debtor. Such a balance, according to the Supreme Court, can be ensured by granting the creditor the right to an alternative choice between two options: keeping the property or transferring it to the debtor's bankruptcy estate with the establishment of a collateral status.

Despite the fact that the text of the judicial act does not directly say this, we are talking about collateral legal relations in relation to both situations.

In the first case, the creditor is obliged to clarify his claim in the register for the value of the partially paid goods, that is, the creditor receives the right to satisfy the claim at the expense of the value of the collateral. The second scenario, in turn, involves the transfer of property to the bankruptcy estate with the establishment of collateral status and subsequent preferential satisfaction of the creditor's claim based on the results of the sale of property at auction.

Thus, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation canceled the judicial acts of the lower courts and sent the case for a new hearing to the first instance.