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Russky Dom unhappy with assignment of claim

Rostov-on-Don-based Russky Dom OOO has taken legal action to contest a credit agreement for RUB 1.39 billion with Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) OOO, under which the former obtained the right of claim for distressed debt owed by the Mayak Group. Russky Dom expected to receive the debtor's assets pledged as collateral with the bank, but it emerged after the agreement had been signed that the collateral was significantly impaired. Russky Dom believed that the bank had kept this hidden, but the court of first instance sided with the bank, deeming the claimant's actions negligent.

Two years without the SAC: experts talk about the merger of higher courts and its impact on the uniformity of practice

At the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, President Vladimir Putin said the merger of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court (SAC) was "a positive step towards the uniformity of jurisprudence". The President’s statement was met with mixed reviews in the legal community – some experts are dissatisfied with the quality of Russian justice, while others say that the merger of the two supreme courts has really made ​​the practice more uniform, and the litigation more transparent.

Supreme Court corrects unexpected error

The first cassation went against established practice

The Supreme Court admits a sub-statutory penalty

The Supreme Court has corrected appeal and cassation rulings, which allowed the application of reduced contractual penalties

Consideration paid can be returned – a new word from the Supreme Court on business lending

Court Collegium for Civil Cases corrected the courts, which were denying the borrower the right to recalculate the interest upon early repayment of the loan.

Arbitration court in the conflict zone

In late November, the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation recommended the adoption, in the second reading, of a package of draft laws on the reform of the arbitration court. The main purpose of the documents under review – is to create common requirements in the field of arbitration and eliminate gaps in the legal regulation of procedural issues. Experts point to the ideological conflict that may interfere with the success of this case.

Administrative Procedure Code: what, how and why?

The Russian Administrative Procedures Code shall enter into force on September 15, 2015. It will regulate the procedures for consideration by the Supreme Court of Russia and the courts of general jurisdiction of administrative cases to protect the rights of citizens and organizations. On the eve of its coming into force, we asked legal practitioners to express their opinions about this new, already the twenty-first by count, Administrative Procedures Code. Special attention of the experts was drawn to the similarity of the Administrative Procedures Code with the Arbitration Procedure Code and the Civil Procedural Code of the Russian Federation and the unusual for modern Russian law, restrictions on legal representation.

Account limits placed on debtors

The Ministry of Justice intends to deprive debtor legal entities from the ability of creating and reorganizing their companies, and also from opening bank accounts and deposits. The amendments are being proposed to encourage debtors to promptly comply with the requirements of judicial enforcement officers, they said at the agency. Implementation of these ideas of the Ministry of Justice will lead to the violation of rights of businesses, and will block the work of companies, said some of the lawyers interviewed by Kommersant. Others, however, do not see any conflict with the current legislation and are calling the proposed measures effective.

Two major changes in the agro-industrial complex: mandatory complaint procedure and writ proceedings

When the complaint procedure is not mandatory?

How to sue without having to wait an entire 30 days for the counterparty’s answer?

How to collect debts and obtain a writ of execution in just two months?

Banks will disable remote servicing of companies emerging from “hibernation”

The Central Bank has recommended that banks include a provision in their contracts with companies, allowing for the possibility of denying them remote access to accounts, if the latter had not conducted transactions through their accounts during a prolonged period of time. This initiative, according to most experts, has great chances of a positive outcome, in the context of the fight against withdrawal of capital from the country and money laundering, but there are also those who treat this change with suspicion.

Benefits and drawbacks to online access to notarial acts

The government liked the idea of ​​the Ministry of Justice to provide round the clock, and free of charge, online access to information about all of notarized acts, and this draft bill will soon be considered by the State Duma. The authors of the initiative claim that this will simplify the authentication of the documents, and most importantly – will not harm the federal budget. Experts were unanimous in their delight with these amendments, not realizing that here we have a small, yet important, "but" – this is the law on personal data.

Lawyers on amendments to the Arbitration Procedure Code: Simplified procedures do not facilitate arbitration

Russia's Supreme Court has carried out some reforms, as a result of which, starting at the beginning of this summer, more than half of all arbitration cases will be dealt with under an accelerated procedure, which is supposed to allow the courts to reduce their caseloads, and allow judges to save time in hearing cases. The amendments to the Arbitration Procedure Code, recently signed into law by Vladimir Putin, will enter into force on 01 June. Meanwhile, Pravo.Ru asked representatives of the legal community whether they consider this an effective document – and the answers were not long in coming.

“Pervomaysk” Investors secured by the Constitution

Russian Constitutional Court ruled on the complaints made by depositors of the Pervomaysky Bank, whose funds were stolen by Larisa Golodnova, manager of the Gelendzhiksky Branch. The Court explained that the Bank cannot refuse to return moneys to depositors, by claiming as a defence the illegal actions of their employees, if the depositors acted reasonably and in good faith. The damage that Larisa Golodnova caused depositors amounted to 387.7 million roubles, stolen from 184 victims, whose previous attempts to get moneys returned through the courts failed. Now, on the basis of the decision of the Constitutional Court, these victims might seek a review of this case, and demand to have their deposits returned.