Bankruptcy Law

Article L. 624-1 of the Commercial Code, which organizes the procedure for the verification of claims, provides that, within the time-limit set by the court, the legal representative draws up, after having solicited the debtor's observations, the list of declared claims with his proposals for admission, rejection or referral to the competent court. He then forwards this list to the bankruptcy judge. A creditor's request for an extension of the time-limit set by the court for the legal representative to draw up the list of declared claims, which falls under the non-contentious jurisdiction of the court, is made by petition and not by writ of summons . Article R. 624-1(1) specifies that the verification of claims is carried out by the legal representative, the debtor and, where applicable, the designated controllers, present or duly called.

The debtor's observations must be submitted within a period of thirty days , which runs from the date on which he was given the opportunity by the legal representative to make his observations. Where the debtor does not participate in the verification of the claims, the time-limit shall run from the date of receipt of the registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt sent to him by the legal representative and indicating the proposals for admission, rejection or dismissal mentioned in the first paragraph of Article L. 624-1. It is up to the legal representative to justify the date on which he requested the debtor's observations. Article L. 624-1(2) specifies that a debtor who does not make observations within the time-limit may not make any subsequent challenge to the legal representative's proposal. The debtor may not, therefore, contest the statement of claims by appealing against the decision of the bankruptcy judge terminating the mission of the legal representative .

The legal representative, who does not summon the debtor company to the verification of the claims, commits a fault likely to engage his liability since he deprives the company of the possibility of opposing, in particular, the lateness of the declaration of a creditor . On the other hand, the social security bodies must establish their claim by producing a writ of enforcement within the time-limit given to the legal representative to verify the liabilities, as indicated in the opening judgment, without the legal representative being required to remind them of this .

A decision that has the force of res judicata, which establishes a claim, may be enforced against the legal representative, who must be satisfied with verifying that it is in conformity with the title that established it and may not contest either the principle or the amount of the claim .

Only the debtor, to the exclusion of its former directors, has the right to invoke the irregularity of the procedure for the verification of claims, arising from the fact that the legal representative did not receive its observations . The fact that the provisional list of claims was initialled and signed by an administrative and financial manager, a member of the debtor's board of directors, who was not empowered to sign such a document, does not constitute such an irregularity, since this is not a fault attributable to the legal representative . The debtor's application for a declaration of the extinction of his liabilities due to the lapse of the procedure for the verification of claims must also be rejected, since the creditors have no duty to take any action once they have made their declarations of claim .

Cass. com., 9 May 2007, LawLex202100002344JBJ (RJ).

Cass. com., 15 November 2016, LawLex202100002319JBJ (RJ).

Cass. com., 27 January 2015, LawLex202100002316JBJ (RJ).

Cass. com., 25 October 2017, LawLex202100002829JBJ (RJ).

Cass. com., 13 September 2017, LawLex202100001204JBJ (LJ).

Cass. com., 19 November 2003, LawLex202100001202JBJ (LJ).

Cass. com., 27 May 2014, LawLex202100002318JBJ (LJ).

Cass. com., 9 November 2004, LawLex202100001203JBJ (LJ).

198. Procedure for the verification of claims