"Termination of the bankruptcy procedure is not the basis for termination of proceedings on the application for bringing to subsidiary liability of controlling persons of the debtor" - this is the conclusion reached by the Supreme court of the Russian Federation considering the complaint of the creditor-applicant in the bankruptcy case.

"17" November 2017 completed the procedure of bankruptcy proceedings of the debtor LLC "Novaport", case A40-70634/2016.

A brief presentation of the essay on the subsidiary liability of shareholders and directors by comparing the approach adopted by the Russian Courts – as recently confirmed by the Supreme Courts – with those of other legal systems, the Italian one in particular, to the debated topic of the identification of the circumstances the occurrence of which make it possible to pierce the corporate veil, a topic that would deserve further attention by the Italian legislators, too. 

Президиум Верховного Суда РФ утвердил Обзор судебной практики разрешения споров, связанных с установлением в процедурах банкротства требований лиц, контролирующих должника и аффилированных с ним лиц.

В Обзоре даны важные разъяснения относительно специфики участия в делах о банкротстве лиц, аффилированных с должником и (или) контролирующих его деятельность.

On December 21, 2017, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted the resolution regarding the liability of the controlling persons in the event of company bankruptcy. The resolution clarified the application of the new law No. 266-FZ dated July 29, 2017 that introduced amendments to the Russian Law on Bankruptcy, including the new chapter III.2 “Liability of the debtor’s executive and other persons in a bankruptcy case.”

Deposit Ins. Agency v. Leontiev, No. 17-MC-00414 (S.D.N.Y. July 23, 2018) [click for opinion]

On July 31, 2017, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York recognized a Russian insolvency proceeding as a foreign main proceeding under chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (“Code”), concluding that (i) a retainer deposited with the debtor’s attorneys in the U.S. was sufficient property within the United States to establish jurisdiction over a debtor under section 109(a) of the Code and (ii) the Russian insolvency proceeding was not “manifestly contrary to public policy of the United States.”

The 2015 reform of the Russian law of obligations (changes to the relevant section of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – the Civil Code) came into force on June 1, 2015) may have a major impact on bankruptcy proceedings. The implementation of the new legal doctrines has only just begun, yet the first cases to reach the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation have already revealed major issues.

In a previous article, The Eagle and the Bear: Russian Proceedings Recognized Under Chapter 15, we discussed In re Poymanov, in which the Bankruptcy Court (SDNY) recognized a Russian foreign proceeding under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code even though the debtor had only nominal assets in the United States (the “Recognition Order”). The Bankruptcy Court had declined to rule upon recognition whether the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C.

Russia’s bankruptcy law (the Law) has been amended to expand the list of persons who may be held vicariously liable for a bankrupt’s debts and clarify the grounds for such liability.

Definition of controlling person clarified

On 21 December 2017 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued clarifications on the liability of controlling parties in the event of bankruptcy.1 These clarifications are important for shareholders and company management, since the changes to the Law on Bank ruptcy and current case law have extended the scope of liability of controlling parties in the event of bankruptcy.

The main cases where controlling parties can be held liable are:

(1) the declaration of bankruptcy of the debtor was not filed in pro per time;