December 2023 – Acceptance of an appeal against a false statement by a third party

Decision No. 207/2023 was issued by the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Samos, accepting an appeal against the statement made by a third company due to its falsehood.

Specifically, our principal had a claim against a contractor company. The latter had, in fact, declared bankruptcy in the year 2018. However, guided by us and acting promptly, our principal imposed a compulsory seizure in the hands of a third-party, regarding claims of the latter against debtor company. Such actions were deemed necessary, since, following our investigation, it was evident that such third party was strongly connected to debtor and indeed debtor held a claim against third party. The third party, however, filed a negative statement – i.e. it falsely declared that the contractor/debtor had no claims against it to be seized and ultimately paid to our principal company. We filed an appeal on our part with the aim of canceling such statement as false, which was recently accepted. As a result, the third company is now also obligated to pay the seized amount.

The legal interest of the case lies in the fact that initially, the Court considered that the seized claim belonged to the bankrupt estate of the contractor company/debtor – a fact that entails the cessation of enforcement measures against it. In short, the Court initially ruled, with a non-final decision, that it should await the bankruptcy proceedings to achieve the collective satisfaction of creditors. However, through appropriate legal maneuvers, our company succeeded in revoking the above non-final decision (arguing that the seizure had been imposed prior to the declaration of bankruptcy by the debtor, and therefore, the seized claim had been validly assigned at that time to our principal, and therefore does not belong in such estate) and affirming its claims. Thus, the appeal was accepted, resulting in the third party also becoming a debtor of the same claim, significantly facilitating its collection.