The Supreme Court clarified the order of repayment of claims in bankruptcy arising from the death of a person

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (SC) recognized that compensation for non-pecuniary damage due to the death of a loved one should be collected in bankruptcy in the first place. Practice did not give clear answers to this question, and the lower courts decided that such debts are repaid in the third place, that is, on a par with ordinary creditors. Lawyers say that the Supreme Court has secured the overriding priority of non-pecuniary damages, which can now be obtained even before workers’ demands for wages and severance pay.

The Supreme Court clarified the sequence of repayment of claims in bankruptcy that arose due to the death of a person. Maria Skvortsova went through bankruptcy proceedings on her own initiative, the total amount of debts was 1.8 million rubles, the creditors were Rosbank, Sberbank and the Federal Tax Service. Of the liquid property, she had only a land plot in Volgograd with an initial price for sale at auction of 344 thousand rubles.

Later, Galina Kalmykova, as a creditor, filed claims against Mrs. Skvortsova for 1.173 million rubles, of which 850 thousand rubles. moral damage, 53.7 thousand rubles. burial expenses and 269 thousand rubles. percent. The arbitration courts included the amounts in the third order of the register of creditors. But Ms. Kalmykova challenged this in the Supreme Court, believing that her demands should get first of all (see “Kommersant” dated July 6).

The fact is that through the fault of the debtor, the son of Mrs. Kalmykova died. In her favor, Maria Skvortsova was awarded moral damages, burial costs and interest, but they can only be recovered as part of bankruptcy. Galina Kalmykova believes that her claims arose because of harm to life and health and should be repaid before others. The Economic Board supported the mother of the deceased.

The Supreme Court noted that the burial expenses and non-pecuniary damage were recovered in favor of the creditor “in connection with the death of the son established by the court verdict as a result of the debtor’s driving in violation of traffic rules,” and interest was awarded for non-payment.

Thus, the obligation to pay all amounts arose as a result of “harm to life or health”. The bankruptcy law (Article 134) states that compensation for non-pecuniary damage in this case refers to the first stage of the register. The courts referred to a practice that “does not concern moral damage compensated in connection with harm to life and health, and is not applicable in determining the order of disputed claims,” the Supreme Court clarified.

The Economic Collegium canceled all decisions and included the claims of Galina Kalmykova in the amount of 1.173 million rubles. first of all, the register of creditors’ claims.

Denis Krauyalis, junior partner at Yakovlev & Partners Law Group, notes the importance of the decision, as the Supreme Court corrected a court error that could have led to “unreasonable deprivation of Ms. Kalmykova of the right to the primary receipt of funds” relative to other creditors for material claims. Moreover, the Supreme Court “removed a gap in the legislation” that allowed lower instances to “literally apply” the articles of the bankruptcy law and look for similar judicial practice, Irina Kaplun, lawyer at Intellectual Capital, believes.

The fact is that within the framework of the FZ-186 adopted on June 29, 2015 (on amendments to certain legislative acts), compensation for moral damage was excluded from the list of requirements that form the first stage of the register, explained the head of the financial and economic expertise department of AVERTA GROUP, Lyudmila Khapugin. The reason was the desire to “increase liability for violating the terms of payment of wages”, but “it is unlikely that legislators wanted to give priority to claims arising from property damage over compensation for physical or moral suffering associated with harm to life and health,” the lawyer believes.

Now the Supreme Court has approved that any costs associated with causing harm to life and health “have the highest priority in their repayment in the bankruptcy procedure,” emphasizes Dmitry Palin, adviser to the bankruptcy practice of BVMP.

That is, if the claim in connection with the infliction of harm is put in the first place, then the moral damage recovered for the same reason “is also put in the first place,” Mr. Krauyalis specified. Moral harm “never exists autonomously” and cannot be given “another legal status,” he added.

Mr. Palin believes that now the chances of such creditors to receive the maximum recovery of their losses are increasing, since the first stage is in the “most privileged position”. Moreover, notes Denis Krauyalis, that such claims will be paid off even “before the claims of the debtor’s employees for wages or severance pay.”

Ekaterina Volkova