Precedential case to exclude cash from bankruptcy estate

Our law firm has represented Obrascón Huarte Lain (OHL) in a precedential case in which OHL demanded that funds owed to OHL be excluded from the bankruptcy estate of Hydrobudowy Polska (HBP).

OHL and HBP were parties to an escrow account agreement concluded with a bank. The account was used to settle a construction contract performed by a consortium of, inter alia, OHL and HBP. The contracting authority paid the fee to the escrow account, from which subcontractors and suppliers were also paid.

When HBP became bankrupt, OHL demanded that part of the funds on the escrow account be released. The HBP receiver refused to do so, so on OHL's behalf we filed a claim for the funds to be released in proceedings for exclusion from the bankruptcy estate. We obtained a favourable decision from the Supreme Court (II CSK 536/14), which found that funds owed to another person could be excluded from the bankrupt entity's bank account. The case ended successfully for OHL in March 2017 with the amount claimed being awarded.

Thus OHL recovered its funds from the HBP bankruptcy estate in full. However, it did not have to report its debt in the manner provided for creditors of bankrupt entities.

The case was conducted by DZP bankruptcy and restructuring experts, Marek Świątkowski, Igor Barcew and Michał Cecerko from the Corporate and M&A Practice, and Paweł Lewandowski and Krzysztof Stecyk in the Dispute Resolution Practice.