Supreme Court of Russia explained what to do with a pledge lender who failed to file the claims in time

The Economic Board of the Supreme Court of Russia considered the case on the complaint of the debtor, who remained dissatisfied with the result of the decisions made by the lower instances.  The judges reinstated the deadline for filing an application for the inclusion in the register of creditors’ claims of a claim of a pledge lender, who failed to do it in time, although the debtor believed that the creditor had been aware of the deadline.

The question concerned the loan agreement and the debtor's apartment, which was pledged due to the fact that the latter received money from the creditor. Subsequently, the debtor (individual) applied to the court with a petition for his own bankruptcy, indicating the debt to the pledge lender.

Bankruptcy trustee sent a notice about the commencement of the insolvency procedure 10 days before the register of creditors’ claims was closed, and the creditor sent his claims, but was late.

The lower instances considered the omission of the deadline valid and included the claims in the register of creditors’ claims.

However, when considering the application, the board of the Supreme Court of Russia drew attention to the debtor's argument that he had also sent documentation on the initiation of the procedure to the creditor, but this did not help. In addition, the debtor also stated that the pledged real estate was the only housing, which was not reflected in the acts of the lower courts.

As a result, the Supreme Court of Russia came to the conclusion that the colleagues did not pay enough attention to the circumstances of the case, canceled the decisions and sent the dispute for reconsideration (decision № 303-ES21-13392 of November 15, 2021).