Bankruptcy Law

The proposals made to the creditors for the payment of the debtor's debts may concern, under Article L. 626-5 of the Commercial Code, payment terms and discounts that the creditors have the choice to accept or not. Paragraph 2 of the text provides that when the proposal made to a creditor relates to payment terms and discounts, failure to reply to the legal representative's letter of consultation  …

Payment terms and discounts

The proposals made to the creditors for the payment of the debtor's debts may concern, under Article L. 626-5 of the Commercial Code, payment terms and discounts that the creditors have the choice to accept or not. Paragraph 2 of the text provides that when the proposal made to a creditor relates to payment terms and discounts, failure to reply to the legal representative's letter of consultation within thirty days of its receipt shall constitute acceptance of the proposal. This rule cannot be transposed, in the absence of similar provisions, when the representative proposes an amendment of the plan aimed at reducing the amount of the claims: whether or not the creditors respond to the consultation, they cannot have a debt remission imposed on them .

The Court of Cassation considers that the failure of creditors to respond to the legal representative's consultation on payment terms and discounts does not necessarily imply acceptance of the proposal which includes a reduction in the amount of their claim, when the terms of the alternative contained in the letter are ambiguous . A contrario, creditors who have not responded within thirty days to the consultation on the options proposed for the payment of their claims and who, in accordance with the clear and unambiguous terms of the letter sent to them, are deemed by their silence to have accepted the least favorable option, cannot claim that their interests have been sacrificed, since they were given the opportunity to choose and were fully informed of the consequences of their inertia . A creditor who has not responded within the prescribed time-limit to the consultation letter from the legal representative, which informed him of the sanction for his failure to respond, cannot subsequently contest the option chosen in the plan .

In addition, a creditor who has been admitted to the debtor's liabilities, who may not be required to remit any claim that he or she has expressly refused, may demand to be repaid in full in accordance with the schedule of the continuation plan .

Finally, under the terms of Article L. 626-19(2) of the Commercial Code, the reduction of the claim is definitively acquired only after payment, at the fixed term, of the last instalment provided for in the plan for its payment .

CA Saint-Denis de la Réunion, 13 April 2021, LawLex202200006044JBJ (S).

Cass. com., 15 December 2015, LawLex202100001800JBJ (RJ).

CA Grenoble, 9 December 2021, LawLex202200005915JBJ (S).

CA Nîmes, 15 June 2022, LawLex202200004120JBJ (S).

CA Paris, 9 March 2001, n° 2000/08219 (RJ).

See for an application, Cass. com., 9 May 2007, LawLex202100005314JBJ (RJ) ; 3 October 2006, LawLex202100005315JBJ (RJ).

Bankruptcy Law

250. Payment terms and discounts

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Les notions juridiques connexes

250. Payment terms and discounts

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise