The Supreme court will decide how to execute anti-suit bans under the “Lugovoi law”

The Economic Collegium of the Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation transferred the dispute of the Latvian PNB Banka with its former board member Alexei Kutyavin, who is a citizen of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court will have to decide how to enforce the ban to sue abroad if the dispute is transferred to a Russian court.

A bankrupt bank in the person of its bankruptcy manager demands to recover damages from Mr. Kutyavin. His claim was initially filed in the Latvian court, but at the request of the defendant, the dispute was transferred to the Russian jurisdiction, and the bank was forbidden to continue proceedings abroad (an anti-claim ban was imposed under the “Lugovoi law”). The rationale was that it is difficult for Russians to fully defend their interests in a foreign court due to sanctions and visa restrictions. A similar fate has developed in the second lawsuit of the bank against another board member – Russian Sergey Goraschenko. This case was also referred to the Russian court.

As part of the enforcement of the anti-claim ban, PNB Banka asked the Latvian court to leave his claims against Sergey Goraschenko and Alexei Kutyavin without consideration, which was done. But Russian courts have assessed the bank’s actions differently. In the case of Sergey Goraschenko, the Moscow Arbitration Court decided that the bank had to drop the claim in Latvia directly so that the dispute could not be resumed later. This decision stood in higher instances. But in the case of Alexei Kutyavin, the Arbitration Court of the Kirov region considered it sufficient to leave the claim without consideration and recognized the anti-claim ban executed by the bank.

Mr. Kutyavin appealed against this decision, pointing to the remaining opportunity for the bank to file a similar lawsuit against him again. The appeal and the district appeal dismissed his complaints. The first attempt to transfer the case to the economic board of the Armed Forces was unsuccessful, but the second complaint, already addressed to the deputy chairman of the Armed Forces, attracted the attention of the highest instance. On September 24, the dispute was transferred to the economic board of the Armed Forces, which will determine a unified approach to the enforcement of anti-claim prohibitions.

More about the case - in the material "Kommersant" "All power - prohibitions"

Anna Zanina