Bankruptcy Law

The revendication of goods arising from a contract in force on the date of the opening of the receivership procedure posed a problem as to the starting point of the time period for the action. Under the Act of 25 January 1985 , the Court of Cassation held that the time period for bringing an action in revendication did not run where the contract in question had not been terminated ipso jure .

Article L. 624-10-1 of the Commercial Code, which applies to the receivership procedure on the basis of Article L. 631-18, dissociates the right to restitution from the actual restitution of the asset. Where the right to restitution has been recognized, and the asset is the subject of a contract in the course of performance on the date the procedure is opened, actual restitution takes place on the date of termination or expiry of the contract. Accordingly, the Court of Cassation considers that once the judgment opening the procedure has been issued, the owner is obliged to bring an action within the three-month period set out in Article L. 624-9 , even if the actual restitution of the good is deferred until the date of termination or the end of the contract.

Where the property sold has been lost or destroyed after the opening of the procedure, and in the absence of termination or expiry of the contract, the owner is not required to bring the action in revendication provided for in Article L. 624-9 in order to exercise his rights to the insurance indemnity substituted for the property .

L. 85-98 of 25 January 1985 on the receivership and liquidation of companies.

Cass. com., 7 November 2006, LawLex202100003309JBJ (RJ) ; 15 February 2005, LawLex202100003427JBJ (LJ) ; 4 March 2003, LawLex202100003422JBJ (LJ).

Cass. com., 16 September 2014, LawLex202100003393JBJ (LJ).

Cass. com., 16 September 2008, LawLex202200003710JBJ.

514. Property covered by a contract in the course of performance