THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA: CURRENT PAYMENT CAN BE DISPUTED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO CIRCUMSTANCES

THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA: CURRENT PAYMENT CAN BE DISPUTED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO CIRCUMSTANCES

THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA: CURRENT PAYMENT CAN BE DISPUTED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO CIRCUMSTANCES
The Board of the Supreme Court considered the case at the request of the manager challenging a number of payments in favor of one of the debtor's creditors. The issue concerned a contract concluded between the parties for the provision of fee-based services for the protection of property.

The debtor, being the customer for the transaction, made several money transfers in favor of the contractor after the insolvency proceedings had been initiated, which was the reason for the filing of a claim by the manager.

The courts of the first, appeal and cassation instances unanimously recognized a number of disputed transfers under the agreement as invalid, referring to the preferential satisfaction of the claims of one creditor in relation to others.

However, the Supreme Court disagreed with this position regarding one of the payments.

The fact is that one of the disputed transfers was made within the framework of an agreement concluded before the filing of a claim for declaring the debtor bankrupt. This circumstance makes it possible to qualify such a payment as current.

In this case, invalidation of the current transaction is possible in the presence of a combination of two circumstances:

  • the creditor knew about the violation of the order of satisfaction of current payments by paying for his services;
  • the bankruptcy estate was not enough to pay off other higher priority current payments.

Thus, the liquidator had to submit à confirmation of the creditor's bad faith to the court, namely his awareness of the violation of the order of satisfaction of claims.

However, no such evidence was presented, and therefore the payment could not be declared invalid (judgment No. 305-ES20-5112(8) dated March 4, 2021). 

12.04.2021