Recovery of a claim constituting an abuse of rights

Facts

The company Marco Generalunternehmung AG (the "Appellant") filed an appeal against a decision of the Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Chamber regarding the recovery of a claim by a municipality. The Appellant alleges that the municipality has acted abusively by pursuing a claim that it knows is not owed to it.

Considerations

According to the recent case law of the Federal Tribunal, the principle of good faith must also be respected in the law of forced execution. A party that violates the rules arising from Art. 2 CC is not entitled to the protection of the law, regardless of the interests at stake between the creditor and the debtor.

However, in the present case, the Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Chamber cannot examine the merits of the disputed claim. Indeed, Swiss debt collection law allows the creditor to initiate debt collection proceedings without having to prove the existence of the claim. Neither the debt collection office nor the supervisory authority have the power to decide whether a disputed claim is justified or not.

Therefore, the appeal cannot be…