Sergey Kovalev, Managing Partner of Kovalev, Tugushi & Partners law firm, was a speaker at “The Bankruptcy Law - What's Wrong with the Main Law of the Industry?” session at the III Kazan Internati
The Third Kazan International Legal Forum brought together more than 650 speakers and delegates from government, academic and business spheres. Kovalev, Tugushi & Partners Law Firm was an active participant in four sessions of the Forum: representatives of the firm took up six speaker slots where they discussed actual problems of law and business.
On September 26, the first day of the Forum, Sergey Kovalev, Managing Partner of the Firm, was a speaker at the round table “Bankruptcy Law - What's Wrong with the Main Law of the Industry?”.
The main points of the speech were:
1. Unjustified attraction of individuals to subsidiary liability:
- Involvement of a wide range of individuals without proper evidence and in violation of deadlines is a serious problem.
- These individuals become involved before there are even signs of bankruptcy and are subjected to years of litigation, risking huge financial liabilities.
2. Consequences for the individuals involved:
- People who are drawn into subsidiary liability suffer from interim measures and have to spend considerable money on legal defense.
- The consequences are particularly severe in the case of bank failures, where liability can reach billions of rubles, which no one is able to sustain.
3. The need for reform and proposed measures:
- The introduction of a rule allowing the court, when accepting an application for subsidiary liability (Article 61.16, paragraph 2), to leave the application motionless after an initial legal analysis, which will help cut off the flow of unfounded applications.
- The proposal to introduce rules allowing the court to return and leave without consideration groundless applications will contribute to judicial economy and protect the parties involved.
Sergey Kovalev also emphasized the unacceptability of applying bankruptcy rules to a spouse who is not a debtor, as it violates the institution of common property. Such practice of courts contradicts both formal law and the economic essence of the issue.
Panelists included:
- Rustem Miftakhutdinov, Founder and member of the supervisory board of the national association “Bankrupt Club”
- Alexey Kostovarov, Partner, Liniya Prava law firm
- Smirnykh Andrei, Project Director, Enforcement and Bankruptcy Directorate, Problem Assets Department, Sberbank PJSC
- Oleg Zaitsev, Associate Professor of the Department of Obligations Law at the Russian School of Private Law, Chairman of the National Association of Bankruptcy and Troubled Asset Management Specialists “Bankrupt Club”.
- Olga Zorina, Judge of the Arbitration Court of the Volga District
- Alexey Yukhnin, Interfax Group, Deputy General Director