Subsidy as an obstacle to debt relief

Subsidy as an obstacle to debt relief

Subsidy as an obstacle to debt relief
The manager applied to the court to complete the procedure for the sale of the citizen's property and release him from fulfilling his obligations to creditors (case no. A56-15605/21).

Partially satisfying the application, the court of first instance pointed out the lack of reliable information about the debtor's property outside the Russian Federation and the exhaustion of all legal ways to establish the debtor's property outside the Russian Federation. It also indicates the repayment of a claim based on the joint involvement of the debtor in subsidiary liability; the absence of grounds for challenging the debtor's transactions. No signs of fictitious or intentional bankruptcy have been established, no concealment or destruction of the debtor's property has been established, or false information has been reported by the debtor to the financial manager.

The court of appeal did not agree with the conclusion of the court of first instance that there were grounds for releasing the citizen from further fulfillment of creditors' claims, overturned the ruling in this part and refused to release [the citizen] from further fulfillment of creditors' claims. 

The Court of Appeal took into account that the register includes claims arising from holding a citizen vicariously liable for the obligations of the company and making transactions that were declared invalid on the basis of the provisions of bankruptcy legislation, which excludes the debtor's release from further fulfillment of creditors' claims. With regard to the company's claim based on judicial acts to recover compensation from the debtor for violation of the exclusive right to a trademark, the court of appeal proceeded from the fact that the debtor's offense was obviously intentional.

The cassation refused to release the debtor from its obligations to one of the creditors, since the creditor's claims are based on judicial acts that have entered into force invalidating the company's transactions in the person of the sole participant and the general director for the transfer in favor of a citizen in the absence of evidence of the validity of the payments made. Based on this, the debtor has no right to expect to be released from obligations to the creditor upon request for subsidiary liability.

25.06.2025