Facts
The bank in Langenthal granted the debtor Hans Glauser a loan and secured it through a receivables assignment agreement. When Glauser was granted a four-month moratorium on debt collection, the bankruptcy authority appointed Johann Sidler as the administrator. The bank in Langenthal filed a complaint against the debtor and the administrator for breach of contract, as the debtor refused to grant the bank access to his books.
The lower supervisory authority partially upheld the complaint and decided that the debtor had to comply with the assignment agreement until the date of the moratorium approval. However, for the duration of the moratorium, the bank's claims under the contract were considered disputed for serious reasons, so that all of the debtor's book receivables accrued after the date of the moratorium were to be considered disputed and stayed.
Both the bank and the debtor and the administrator appealed against this decision. The upper supervisory authority overturned the first-instance decision and did not enter into the bank's complaint, as the administrator had only provided the debtor with legal advice, but had not given any instructions. Only the debtor could file a complaint against the administrator's instructions, not a creditor.
Considerations
The Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Chamber reached the following conclusion
1. The bank's complaint against the administrator was admissible, as the administrator had given the debtor a binding instruction not to comply with the bank's demands. As an affected creditor, the bank was…