THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA CLARIFIED WHEN BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE IS NOT LATE TO DEMAND A PAYMENT OF REMUNERATION

THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA CLARIFIED WHEN BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE IS NOT LATE TO DEMAND A PAYMENT OF REMUNERATION

THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA CLARIFIED WHEN BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE IS NOT LATE TO DEMAND A PAYMENT OF REMUNERATION
The Economic Board considered the complaint of the bankruptcy trustee of debtor, whose claim for payment of remuneration was consistently denied by the courts due to missing the procedural deadline. At the same time, the highest court saw no grounds for this, indicating that in the case under consideration, the three-month period for filing an application is not applicable due to the peculiarities of the submitted application.

We are talking about a situation when during the conduct of bankruptcy proceedings one trustee was replaced by another. The second brought the insolvency case to its logical conclusion, and after the sale of the property and settlements with creditors, he asked the court to pay his remuneration. The court satisfied the application, the amount due was paid in full.

After a while, when the bankruptcy proceedings against the debtor had already been completed, the first bankruptcy trustee applied to the arbitration court.
He asked to recover from the second trustee a part of the amount paid to him in proportion to the time during which the applicant was conducting the insolvency case.
However, the courts of all three instances rejected the claim, stating that the applicant had missed the three-month period.

Despite the unanimity of position, the Supreme court of Russia considered the courts' opinion to be incorrect, indicating that in the case under consideration, this term should not be applied. The reason is that the claims of the manager were not directed at the debtor or its participants, who are obliged to pay the remuneration. They were submitted to the second bankruptcy trustee to recover part of the amount from him. Otherwise, the second trustee will receive unjust enrichment at the expense of the applicant, who also has the right to count on the payment of remuneration (determination No. 305-ES19-21725 of July 15, 2021).

Tags: Supreme Court of Russia, court ruling, bankruptcy trustee, pay

13.08.2021