An interesting court case of our client: subsidiary liability of directors
MAGENTA Legal represents the interests of its client, the French company Nasco France S.A., in a complex court case that has already passed through many instances. The court addresses important questions about the avoidance of liability by officials and the weaknesses of liability insurance.
In a review of the most important court practice, the authoritative legal publication PRAVO.ru wrote about our client's case on recovery of $263,798 of unjust enrichment from Spartak LLC (Case No. A40-100630/2020). At the same time, a second lawsuit was pending to hold the former general director of Spartak LLC and other controlling persons subsidiary liable for the company's debts (case No. A40-31216/2022). Dmitry Shaidulin, the former director of the company, tried to overturn the court decisions that had already entered into legal force, arguing that they directly affected the amount of his personal subsidiary liability. He referred to the fact that he could not provide the necessary evidence in the pending case.
Thanks to the co-ordinated and precise work of MAGENTA Legal's lawyers, the appellate court considered this to be a delay in the process, which in fact it was, but the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District supported Shaidulin. The court stated that the refusal to satisfy the request for evidence violated the principles of adversarial proceedings. This decision did not satisfy our client and after a motion by MAGENTA Legal, the case was sent for reconsideration. It should be noted that due to the active development of the relatively recent institute of subsidiary liability in Russia, many issues have not yet been resolved in practice, and the possibility of reviewing decisions already made by controlling persons is one of them. Due to the constantly arising disagreements in various cases, the Supreme Court has enshrined the right of persons subject to subsidiary liability to participate in certain cases in processes that may affect the amount of the debt in the future.