DISTRICT COURT OBLIGED TO RETURN THE MISTAKENLY TRANSFERRED DEPOSIT TO ITS OWNER

The Arbitration court of the North-Western District considered the case on the complaint of an individual against the actions of the bankruptcy trustee. The applicant pointed to the fact that the previously transferred deposit was not returned to him within the framework of participation in the auction for the property of the bankrupt company. The trustee, in turn, indicated that the money was mistakenly transferred to the wrong account and was written off by the bank due to debts.

The courts of the first and appeal instances rejected the applicant's claim, stating that the trustee could not return the deposit, since the money, due to the applicant's mistake, ended up on the main account of debtor and was written off. This circumstance, in the opinion of the judges, could not become the basis for recognition of the actions of the trustee as unlawful.

However, the district court reminded colleagues that during the auction, the persons who paid the deposit, but did not win, have a right to receive it back.

At the same time, the amounts of the transferred deposits are not subject to inclusion in the bankruptcy estate and cannot be used for settlements with creditors. An exception in this case is the deposit paid by the winning bidder.

In the opinion of board, the courts erroneously failed to investigate the circumstances - at which moment and in the performance of which obligations the applicant's funds were debited from the debtor's account. What is more, the issue of the possibility of returning the disputed funds was not considered.

Now the application will be re-considered, taking into account the mistakes made by the courts (resolution № А56-5579 / 2016 of July 1, 2021).