Facts
In a pledge realization proceeding conducted by X. SA against Y. AG in Basel, the debt collection office of Basel-City estimated the 150 bearer shares pledged by the debtor at their nominal value of CHF 150,000. K. and J.K., as well as Z. AG, as the owners of the pledge, filed an appeal against this estimation, which they consider too low, with the cantonal supervisory authority, requesting the use of an expert appraisal. The supervisory authority rejected the appeal.
The owners of the pledge then appealed this decision to the Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Chamber of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, requesting the annulment of the decision of the supervisory authority and the estimation of the debt collection office, as well as a new estimation of the shares by independent experts.
Considerations
The Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Chamber considers that disputes over the amount of the estimation in an enforcement proceeding are in principle definitively judged by the cantonal supervisory authorities, as they involve questions of assessment. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court can only examine such a decision to see whether the cantonal authority has violated the procedural rules of federal law or has exceeded its power of assessment, which is not the case here.
The debt collection office had good reasons to estimate the pledged shares at their nominal value. This estimation takes into account the purchase price of the securities by the appellants in 1971, as well as the reports of the FIDES fiduciary company and the annual financial statements of the debtor until 1973. These documents show that a reliable estimation of the intrinsic value of the pledged shares is not possible due to the shortcomings in the debtor's accounting.
Furthermore, the…