Inleiding

In its judgment of 9 December 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that once the debtor of a receivable has been notified of a right of pledge over that receivable, the holder of the right of pledge not only has the power to collect the amount due under the receivable but also is entitled to file for the debtor's bankruptcy if the debtor fails to pay this amount.

Het is pandhouders op grond van artikel 3:246 lid 1 Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW) toegestaan om een pandrecht op vorderingen uit te winnen door middel van het opeisen van de vordering. Deze bevoegdheid omvat tevens het recht om zekerheidsrechten uit te winnen die aan de verpande vordering zijn verbonden. Dit is bevestigd in een arrest van de Hoge Raad van 18 december 2015 (ABN AMRO / Marell).

Feiten

Pursuant to Article 3:246 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code (DCC) pledgees have the power to enforce their right of pledge on receivables by claiming (direct) payment of the receivable. This power also includes the right to enforce rights of pledge that in their turn have been granted as security for the repayment of the pledged receivable. The Supreme Court confirmed this in its judgement of 18 December 2015 (ABN AMRO / Marell).

Year in Review - The Netherlands Law in 2016

Op 13 juli 2016 zijn de consultatieversies van het wetsvoorstel Wet herstel en afwikkeling van verzekeraars (het "Consultatie Wetsvoorstel") en bijbehorende memorie van toelichting ("MvT') gepubliceerd. De consultatieperiode is op 28 augustus 2016 gesloten. Met het Consultatie Wetsvoorstel beoogt de minister het wettelijk kader voor herstel en afwikkeling van verzekeraars te versterken.

The District Court of Oost-Brabant: At the time of collection, if a trustee in bankruptcy has collected enforcement proceeds from receivables pledged under an undisclosed right of pledge over receivables, the pledgee of the undisclosed right of pledge remains entitled to claim such proceeds from the trustee in bankruptcy, provided it has not collected the proceeds in its capacity as representative of the insolvent pledgor. The claim, however, only applies to proceeds which have been paid directly into the liquidation account.

Summary

In its judgment Rabobank/Reuser of 3 June 2016, the highest court of justice in the Netherlands (Hoge Raad or Supreme Court) ruled that:

Na jarenlange onduidelijkheid heeft de Hoge Raad op 3 juni 2016 geoordeeld dat op goederen die onder eigendomsvoorbehoud zijn geleverd een geldig pandrecht kan worden gevestigd. Dit is goed nieuws voor ondernemers.

The Supreme Court recently issued an interesting ruling in an insolvency case where receivables that had been validly pledged to a bank were unlawfully collected by a bankruptcy trustee. The question was whether the damages claim of the bank against the bankrupt estate would take priority over the foreclosure and settlement costs, including the bankruptcy trustee’s salary.