Activity of Several Creditors for the Same Claim

Facts

A.X. and B.X. were co-owners in equal shares of the property N. They sold this property as a whole to [Y.] and [Z.] by an authentic sales contract dated July 17, 2003, for a price of 820,000 CHF. The transfer of ownership was registered in the land register on December 12, 2003. Bank S. SA paid an advance of 656,000 CHF, but the balance of 164,000 CHF is disputed between the parties. A.X. and B.X. each opened enforcement proceedings against [Y.] and [Z.] respectively for 82,000 CHF. The buyers filed actions to contest these enforcement proceedings. The district court upheld the actions to contest. The sellers appealed against this decision, which was rejected by the cantonal court. Sellers A.X. and B.X. then filed a civil law appeal to the Federal Supreme Court.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court considers that, contrary to the opinion of the previous instances, A.X. and B.X. have individual active legitimacy to each claim half of the sales price claim. Indeed, even if the property was sold as a whole, the sellers were simply partial creditors and not common creditors. Their status as co-owners in equal shares implies that they each hold a portion of the sales price claim, which they can assert independently of each other.

The Federal Supreme Court notes that the case…