Bankruptcy Law

In accordance with Article L. 643-9(4) of the Commercial Code, the court may be seized at any time by the liquidator, the debtor or the public prosecutor with a request to close the procedure. It may also be seized ex officio for the same purpose. Any creditor may also request closure, but only on expiry of a period of two years from the court-supervised liquidation ruling.

Although deprived of the administration and disposal of his assets, the court-supervised liquidation debtor retains the right to request the closure of his procedure . The manager of the debtor company, appointed as an ad hoc trustee and charged with representing the company in the exercise of its own rights, may also request closure of the liquidation procedure .

The court registrar summons the debtor to appear before the court by a legal officer, and informs the liquidator and the auditors of the date of the hearing . If the debtor or the creditor is the initiator of the request, he or she is summoned by the court registrar by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

In the case of an assignment plan, the court can only close the procedure once it has ascertained that the assignee has complied with its obligations . The court of appeal hearing an appeal against the decision to close the court-supervised liquidation, seeking a stay of closure pending verification of liabilities, must verify whether or not it is impossible to continue with the court-supervised liquidation due to insufficient assets .

It is not up to the court hearing a petition for closure of the court-supervised liquidation proceedings on grounds of insufficient assets to appoint the liquidator of the debtor companies. The liquidator is appointed in accordance with the provisions of the company's articles of association or, in the absence of such provisions, by the shareholders and, in the absence of agreement between the latter, by a decision of the court ruling in summary proceedings . Similarly, discussions concerning the extinguishment of the bank's claim against co-borrowers, one of whom is in court-supervised liquidation, following the court ruling closing the receivership procedure, do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Commercial Court, since the court-supervised liquidation procedure has been closed for the extinguishment of liabilities, thus relinquishing jurisdiction to the consular court, and the dispute does not concern the amount of the claim, but the payment of that claim .

Cass. com., 5 March 2002, LawLex202200000871JBJ (LJ).

CA Paris, 11 March 2008, LawLex202300006866JBJ (LJ).

Cass. com., 2 June 2004, LawLex202300006886JBJ (LJ).

CA Paris, 15 September 2015, LawLex202300006648JBJ (LJ).

CA Reims, 9 August 2005, LawLex202300007454JBJ (LJ).

937. Referral to the court