Supreme Court of Russia indicated when the bankruptcy trustee is guilty of not challenging transactions

The Economic Board considered the case of recovery of damages from the bankruptcy trustee, who "did not notice" the withdrawal of the debtor's assets and did not challenge the transaction.  At the same time, when the bankruptcy proceedings were introduced against the company, another person, who had the procedural opportunity to challenge the transaction, was appointed to the position of the bankruptcy trustee. This fact confused the lower courts.  The issue was finally resolved by the Supreme Court of Russia.

As part of the company's bankruptcy case, one of its creditors demanded damages from the bankruptcy trustee.

Inaction of the trustee became a justification - when it was necessary to challenge agreements on the withdrawal of the debtor's assets from the bankruptcy estate, he took no action.

The court of first instance satisfied the claim, indicating that the bankruptcy estate did not include property precisely because of the inaction of the trustee. At the same time, this opinion was not supported by the court of appeal and the district court, which indicated that the bankruptcy trustee, who was appointed by another person, had the right to challenge the transactions, and he had enough time to do so.

However, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation noted that the first trustee missed the opportunity to challenge the transactions that led to the withdrawal of assets. At the same time, the attempt to return the property, made by the second trustee, had no effect, since it was alienated in favor of third parties.

Thus, the bankruptcy estate did not receive funds because of the actions of the first trustee, which become the basis for recovering the corresponding amount from the second bankruptcy trustee (decision № 305-ES16-16302 (5) dated April 7, 2022 in case № A41-54740/2014).