DISTRICT COURT POINTED OUT THE RIGHT OF CREDITORS TO ELECT A TRUSTEE

The Arbitration Court of the North-Western District considered the complaint of one of the creditors. The applicant expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the lower courts independently chose the trustee, having deprived the creditors of their legal right.

The district court, in turn, sided with the appealer, having considered the conclusions of colleagues to be incorrect.

At first, the situation developed according to a completely standard scenario: in the process of considering the debtor's insolvency petition, his creditors came to the conclusion about the election of a bankruptcy trustee, having submitted the minutes of the meeting to the court. However, due to the protracted procedure of consideration, by the time the court ruling was issued, the decisions made at the meeting of creditors were invalidated due to a number of procedural violations. 

Then one of the creditors asked the court to postpone the court hearing to re-hold the meeting and elect a manager at it. However, the court rejected the petition and pointed out the absence of a decision of the creditors on this issue and chose the trustee on its own. The appellate instance upheld this position. 

The Board of the District Court came to a different conclusion and recalled that the issue of electing a candidate for the position of a bankruptcy trustee is the exclusive competence of the meeting of creditors.

In a situation where, for one reason or another, a bankruptcy trustee has not been elected, the court should appoint an interim trustee who will hold a meeting of creditors for this purpose (decision in case No. A56-79187 / 2016 of April 19, 2021).