Judgment on the payment of a seized claim to the debt collection office and the course of contractual interest

Facts

In July 1990, creditors X., Y. and Z. obtained the seizure of assets of their former client H. held at the bank CSF Investment Ltd. This seizure was converted into a final seizure on 12 October 1990. In March 1993, the investigating judge authorized the release of the seized funds, which were paid to the debt collection office on 20 April 1993 for an amount of CHF 1,523,668.42, including the claim in debt collection and interest at 10% up to that date. However, this amount could not be immediately distributed to the creditors due to a claim procedure and a new criminal seizure. Once these obstacles were removed, the office informed the creditors that it held an amount of CHF 150,606.82 at their disposal, composed of the principal of the claim, the interest on the consignment and the difference between the amounts. The creditors contested the fact that the office had stopped the course of the contractual interest on 20 April 1993, the date of payment to the office.

Considerations

The Federal Court dismissed the creditors' appeal. It considered that when a seized claim is paid to the debt collection office by the third-party debtor, this claim is thereby realized, which makes any mode of realization superfluous. Not only does the payment of the amount of the claim to the office constitute realization, but it also extinguishes the debt under Art. 12 DEBA, without it being necessary to worry about whether and when the money is transmitted to the creditor. It is therefore rightly that the office…