In a recent judgment, the Polish Supreme Court resolved an important question concerning the rights of a creditor to bring legal proceedings after the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings by a debtor.

Legal issue

The Supreme Court considered whether the declaration of a debtor's bankruptcy results in the loss of a creditor's standing to bring a lawsuit to declare a debtor’s attempt to dissipate its assets ineffective (actio pauliana).

What is actio pauliana?

It has been just over a year since the introduction of Poland's new electronic insolvency procedure. The new procedure, introduced on 1 December 2021, is generally conducted via an online platform, the National Debtors’ Register, and has brought about a revolutionary change to Polish insolvency procedure.

Positive developments

• Faster access to the court - Documents filed on the online platform are instantly disclosed to the judge and to the other parties involved. The court’s decisions are also delivered quickly to the parties.

The Singer & Friedlander Limited Pension and Life Assurance Scheme (the "Scheme") first came to general notice in relation to a case arguing whether the section 75 debt can be subject to a set off due to events after the time from which the relevant figures used in the calculation arose (read our article on Disputed section 75 debt claim).

In the November 2013 edition of Pensions Pieces we referred to the Olympic Airlines case where a UK pension scheme could not qualify for entry to the Pension Protection Fund ('the PPF') because its sponsoring employer was suffering main liquidation proceedings in Greece, and further insolvency proceedings could not be established to satisfy the current entry conditions