Is it possible to recover money from an oral deal?

A simple written form is established as a form for many civil law contracts. This means that the conclusion of the deal will require the parties themselves, paper, pen and understanding of the nature of the agreement, concluded between them. But what if this form was not respected and the parties only verbally discussed the conditions and began execution? The question is not simple and must be decided individually in each case.

For example, last week the Supreme Court considered a case, in which the plaintiff demanded the recovery of the value of the rights, transferred to the defendant’s heir 9 years ago. In the present case, the fact that the defendant received the shares has been proved and was not in dispute, however, on the basis of what kind of relationship with the plaintiff, it is still unclear. 

The opinions of the courts were different: the first instance rejected the claim, citing the lack of a written contract. The appeal sided with the plaintiff, indicating that the evidence, presented in the case (including the transfer order) shows the existence of retribution of the contract. The district court upheld the first instance, summarizing the absence of a contract or deed of transfer.

Thus, the Supreme Court was to determine, whether it is possible to recover funds from the defendant’s heir without a written share purchase agreement in this case or not. The conclusion of the highest court is as follows: without a written contract of sale, in which you can see the terms of the deals, including the timing and value of shares, recovery of funds from the defendant is impossible and the claim is denied.