Facts
Relying on an arbitral award, Charles Arthur Joseph Vanderperre had a payment order served on Inter Maritime Management SA, to which the debtor had filed a total opposition within the legal deadline. The creditor then assigned all rights arising from this award to Fairbridge Shipping Corporation, which requested the definitive release of the opposition. Informed of the change of creditor, the debtor filed a request for late opposition, which was rejected by the Court of First Instance of Geneva and confirmed by the Court of Justice of the Canton of Geneva. The debtor then filed a public law appeal with the Federal Tribunal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal rejected the public law appeal to the extent that it was admissible. It considered that the decision on the late opposition fell within the judicial competence, and therefore the appeal under the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act (DEBA) was not taken into consideration. As this was a pure incident of forced execution, this ruling did not settle a civil dispute or a civil matter, so only the public law appeal was admissible.
On the merits, the Federal Tribunal found that the refusal of the late opposition was not arbitrary. It considered that the late opposition under Art. 77 DEBA does not constitute a new autonomous remedy, but is intended only for cases where the change of creditor occurred after the expiry of the ordinary opposition deadline. In the present case, since the debtor had already filed an opposition within the legal…