Reduction of the Collocation Claim of a Concurrent Creditor in Bankruptcy

Facts

In the bankruptcy of company Y. AG in liquidation, the bankruptcy office admitted X. as a third-class creditor for a claim of 11'098 francs and Z. Limited as a creditor for a loan claim of 9'682'357,81 francs (reduced by the bankruptcy office). X. filed an action to contest the collocation schedule against Z. Limited, requesting that the latter's claim be reduced to 8'031'060 francs. The district court set an advance on costs of 34'075 francs for this action. X. appealed against this decision, requesting that the advance be limited to a maximum of 1'903,85 francs. The Cantonal Court partially upheld the appeal and reduced the advance to 25'000 francs.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal considers that the disputed amount in an action to contest the collocation schedule must be calculated based on the dividend likely to be obtained on the contested claim, and not on the nominal value of the claim. When the foreseeable dividend is 0%, the disputed amount can only be symbolic, as there is no direct financial gain to be expected from the proceedings.

In the present case, the Cantonal Court considered that X. had a legal interest in taking action, as it wanted to prevent Z. Limited from receiving too much in the distribution of the…