SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA: CREDITOR MAY MISS THE STATUE OF LIMITATIONS OF PENALTY PAYMENT IN BANKRUPTCY

The Highest court considered the case on the inclusion of the debt for the payment of a penalty for failure to fulfill the main obligation in the register of creditors’ claims. The amount of the debt, from which the penalty was calculated, was already in the register, but the lower authorities rejected the claim, citing the running of the statute of limitations.

It should be noted that the debt and the penalty on it arose from the obligations of the transport expedition. The debtor, who was subsequently declared bankrupt, delayed the payment under the contract, which became the reason for the court case, first with a regular claim, and then with an application to include the debt in the register of creditors’ claims.

After the main debt was in the register, the forwarder filed a claim for the penalty for the delay in fulfilling the obligation to be included in the register of creditors’ claims as well.

The lower courts rejected the claim. The reason for the position was the running of a one-year limitation period. The judges considered that the calculation of the period during which the forwarder was entitled to claim for a penalty should be calculated from the moment of filing a claim for the recovery of the main debt, in which case the period has long passed.

However, the Supreme Court has rejected this position, pointing out that in this case, the special provision of the Law on Freight Forwarding Activities is not applicable.

The Economic Board recalled that according to the Article 207 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the deadline for an additional claim is considered to have passed when the deadline for the main claim expires.

However, the term for the main claim in the case under consideration cannot be considered expired, since the claim was filed by the creditor in time and was satisfied by the court.

Thus, the statute of limitations on the application for the inclusion of the penalty in the register of creditors’ claims was not missed, and the accrual of a penalty is possible up to the introduction of the observation procedure against the debtor (decision No. 305-ES20-12449 of July 15, 2021 in case № A40-5619/2019).