Press review for April 16-30, 2020

Business on self-isolation

Portal Pravo.ru publishes a report of the online conference, where leading corporate lawyers shared case studies from their practice – what is now the most important for business.

The first problem is that courts are closed throughout the country. Only the most important urgent cases are considered. The transition to online justice is difficult: this requires changes to the Arbitration Procedure Code and other codes of the Russian Federation, for example, give lawyers the opportunity to conduct a video conference not from another court, as it is now – but from home, using verification through public services.

Work in this direction is already underway, Nikita Filippov, Head of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, said. “De jure” lawyers, together with Alexey Russkikh, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, and Andrey Klishas, Head of the Committee on constitutional legislation and state construction, prepared a package of draft laws on the possibility of holding court sessions via video link. The bill will help participants in all types of legal proceedings to participate remotely using personal video communications. “It has already been sent to the Government and the Supreme Court,” – the lawyer recalled.

Another problem is electronic document management in the context of a pandemic. Victor Probichev, lawyer of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, told about its features. He warned: coordinate additionally the method of signing the agreement – otherwise you may encounter problems.

Read more – https://pravo.ru/story/220728/

“They didn’t think of video conferences”

Moskva.ru notes that Muscovites have added one more cause for concern – “paralyzed courts are introducing additional confusion.” The consideration of some cases has been suspended. Nikita Filippov, Head of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, notes in an interview with the publication that certain activities of the courts continue: “Cases and materials of an urgent nature are being considered, including on the protection of the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom and personal inviolability, protection of health and property <…>, cases in the order of an orderly and simplified procedure, cases, all participants of which have filed motions to consider cases in their absence if their participation in the consideration of the case is not mandatory,” – Filippov explains.

The lawyer says that it is not always possible to submit documents by the electronic system. “Difficulties will arise with the submission of documents that must be submitted in the original on paper or that are signed with an electronic digital signature,”- he explains. If there is no such signature, then the paper should be sent through the Russian Post. In this case, the expert advises to compile an inventory of investments and save them together with the receipt for further confirmation of the fact of sending procedural documents to the court. “There is also an online service of Russian Post, where any registered user can send a registered letter online with the legal significance of such a dispatch, but it should be borne in mind that up to 5 pages can be sent with one such dispatch,” – Filippov said.

How to balance the interests of creditors in bankruptcy

Pravo.ru reports that the Supreme Court will sort out a number of high-profile cases in the coming days. One of them is a dispute between creditors of SMU Dalelektromontazh.

MUNICIPAL STATE INSTITUTION “DEPARTMENT OF CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION” (MKU “UKS”) of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and CJSC SMU “DEM” named after G. A. Yuzefovich signed a municipal contract for the construction of the object for 801.37 million rubles. Then the Contractor – CJSC SMU “DEM” – entered into a subcontract with CJSC “Group of Companies” Electroshit” for 657.12 million rubles, and for its execution It took a loan from JSC Rosselkhozbank for 196 million rubles. In support of the obligations, the Bank and the Debtor entered into a contract of pledge of rights under the contract. Since the Debtor did not fulfill its obligations, bankruptcy started against it. The Bank appealed to the Court, where it requested to distribute the money recovered from the subcontractor as follows: 95% to the Bank and 5% for current expenses. The first and appellate instances refused him, but the cassation agreed: the money is to be distributed in accordance with Article 138 of the Bankruptcy Law. The Supreme Court will put the point in this dispute (№ A59-2230/2015).

“This dispute demonstrates the irrepressible desire of the Collateral Lender to expand the subject of the security agreement at its discretion,” – Roman Volkomorov, a lawyer of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, said. “However, the subject matter of the agreement should not be interpreted arbitrarily.” According to the lawyer, it should be recognized that both the municipal contract and the subcontract are independent agreements, and the debtor’s property rights arising from the subcontract are not pledged by the Bank.

Tenants can expect deferrals

The portal “Banks Today” addresses the topic of novelties in legislation introduced during the pandemic. “Certainly, the emergence and spread of a new coronavirus infection, as a legal fact, has changed the usual, and to some extent convenient, order of relations between all subjects of civil legal relations, including property rental relations,” – lawyer of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure” Ilsur Zakirov says. He recalls that Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation №.439 of 03.04.2020 “On the establishment of requirements for the conditions and deadlines for deferring payment of rent under real estate lease agreements” was published.

“It is important to note that only organizations and individual entrepreneurs operating in the sectors of the Russian economy that have been most affected by the deterioration of the situation as a result of the spread of a new coronavirus infection have the right of postponement …”, – the lawyer of “De jure” points out. According to him, the right to deferral is granted only to those tenants who entered into lease agreements before the adoption in 2020 of a decision on the introduction of a high alert or emergency situation on the territory of a particular constituent entity of the Russian Federation. Procedure for repayment of rent arrears in connection with the granting of a deferral:

The first payment – no earlier than January 1, 2021;

The last payment – no later than January 1, 2023;

Frequency of payments-equal payments no more than once a month;

The amount of each payment is not more than half of the monthly rent under the lease agreement.

The case of the rector of KNRTU

“Business-online”, “Real time” and a number of other media outlets report on a high-profile detention of Sergei Yushko, rector of the Kazan National Research Technological University (KNRTU). The investigation thinks that in 2004-2017 Yushko was fictitiously considered as the Dean of the information faculty of KNRTU (in which there were no students for a long time).

Alexander Pogodin, Deputy Head of criminal cases at MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, and Oleg Shemaev, lawyer of Bar Association “Paritet” of Kazan took on the task of protecting the detained rector.

Answering a question from journalists, Pogodin noted: “According to the plot of this case, I can say: there are such cases where they look for black cats in dark rooms … when they are not there.” He also criticized the prosecution’s approach to the case: “It seems to me that the investigating authority acted a little primitively – they put two timesheets side by side and made far-reaching and mutually exclusive conclusions. But there could be overlays, flaws in the design. After all, the whole faculty of the University, which was constantly subjected to checks, could not really not exist for such a long time … “

Answer to the apartment question

Experts of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure” at the request of the Domofond.ru portal answered readers’ questions.

Is it possible to recover a penalty from the Developer for delaying the delivery of an apartment?

Ekaterina Bulygina, lawyer of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, explains that according to paragraph 1 of Article 384 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, rights and obligations are transferred to the new owner to the extent that they existed at the time of the conclusion of the contract. “Therefore, if the contract of sale did not specifically stipulate that the buyer transfers the right to recover the penalty for late delivery of the apartment, then you do not have the right to apply to Developer with this requirement,”- the lawyer said.

How to evict a Tenant from an apartment?

Lawyer of “De jure” Tamerlan Zelikov explained what legal grounds may be for this, how to conduct this procedure correctly and what is useful to know in this situation. “If you want to evict a Tenant, relying on those points in which the provisions of Article 619 of the Civil Code are spelled out, – Zelikov draws attention, – most likely, you will need to go to court. But before that, it is necessary to observe the pre-trial claim procedure. If this is not done, your claim will be left without consideration.” He also notes that only the court is authorized to make a decision on the forced eviction of a person from the apartment he is renting / hiring. “Of course, the Landlord can change the locks or call the police. But this is not always effective. So the universal advice in this story is to try to find a common language with the other side and resolve the case peacefully,” the lawyer sums up.

How to officially register changes in mortgage payment obligations?

Lawyer of “De jure” Yakov Bulut explains that the couple should apply to the Bank with an application to change the composition of the borrowers. “At the same time, you should understand that the bank is not obliged to meet you and make changes to the contract, because when concluding the contract, he calculated the risks, which, in his opinion, may be less than the risks when the contract is renegotiated only for you,” – the expert draws attention.

How to declare bankruptcy?

Lawyer of “De jure” Yulia Martynenko reminds that any citizen of Russia has the right to apply for bankruptcy if he is unable to pay his debts on time (loans, taxes, utility bills, etc.). Moreover, the amount of debts does not matter (Clause 2, Article 213.4 of the Federal Law No. 127-ФЗ “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”. The statement must reflect objective reasons that impede the fulfillment of payment obligations, with the application of supporting documents. Based on all these circumstances, the court will determine whether the bankruptcy petition is justified and what bankruptcy procedure should be introduced.

Follow the news and up-to-date comments of our experts on Our Yandex Zen channel: https://zen.yandex.ru/id/5e237b1bcddb71114509a28c