Bankruptcy Law

In accordance with Article L. 641-4 of the Commercial Code, “the liquidator carries out liquidation operations at the same time as verifying claims”. Within two months of taking up his duties, he must submit to the bankruptcy judge a statement showing the valuation of assets and privileged and unsecured liabilities . In the light of this statement, and after hearing the liquidator's observations,  …

Claims verification procedure

In accordance with Article L. 641-4 of the Commercial Code, “the liquidator carries out liquidation operations at the same time as verifying claims”. Within two months of taking up his duties, he must submit to the bankruptcy judge a statement showing the valuation of assets and privileged and unsecured liabilities . In the light of this statement, and after hearing the liquidator's observations, the bankruptcy judge decides whether or not to initiate or continue the verification of unsecured claims, in accordance with Article L. 641-4 .

It is not necessary to verify unsecured claims if it appears that the proceeds from the sale of assets will be entirely absorbed by legal costs and privileged claims . The measure by which the bankruptcy judge exempts the liquidator from the verification of claims due to the absence of assets, or calls into question this decision by ordering the verification after discovering the existence of a building belonging to the debtor, constitutes a measure of judicial administration without the authority of res judicata, which can be modified at any time .

When it appears necessary to resume the verification of claims, the bankruptcy judge sets an additional time-limit for this purpose, which may not exceed six months. The setting of this additional period has the same consequences as that of the period provided for in Article L. 624-1 . Thus, within the time-limit set by the court, the liquidator must draw up a list of declared claims , after requesting the debtor's observations , together with his proposals for their admission, rejection or referral to the competent court, and forward them to the bankruptcy judge. A creditor may request an extension of the time-limit set by the court for drawing up the list of declared claims, by means of a petition rather than summons .

The debtor's observations must be submitted within thirty days, starting from the date on which he was given the opportunity to do so by the liquidator . Where the debtor does not take part in the verification of claims, the time-limit begins to run on receipt of the registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt sent to him by the liquidator, indicating the proposals for admission, rejection or dismissal referred to in the first paragraph of Article L. 624-1 . Accordingly, the time-limit does not begin to run unless the letter sent by the liquidator contains a warning of the consequences of failure to act, by reproducing Article L. 622-27 of the Commercial Code, including the part which reserves the right to discuss the admission or rejection proposal despite the absence of a response within the time-limit, when the discussion concerns the legality of the declaration . A debtor who fails to give his observations within the time-limit cannot subsequently contest the liquidator's proposal . Consequently, he cannot contest the statement of claims by lodging a remedy against the bankruptcy judge's decision to terminate the liquidator's mission .

A liquidator who fails to summon the debtor company to the claims verification procedure commits a fault for which he may be held liable, since he deprives it of the possibility of objecting, in particular, to the lateness of a creditor's declaration . It is up to the liquidator to justify the date on which he requested the debtor's observations . Only the debtor, to the exclusion of its former managers, is entitled to rely on the irregularity of the procedure for verifying claims, arising from the fact that the liquidator has not sought the debtor's 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 management board, who was not empowered to sign such a document, does not constitute such an irregularity, since this is not a fault attributable to the liquidator . The debtor's application for a declaration that his liabilities have been extinguished due to the lapse of the procedure for verifying claims must also be rejected, since creditors are not required to take any action once their claims have been declared .

A res judicata decision establishing a claim is enforceable against the liquidator, who is required only to verify that the claim is consistent with the document establishing it, and may not contest either the principle or the amount of the claim . Lastly, Article L. 641-29 adds that when the liquidation is declared during a safeguard or a receivership procedure, the liquidator completes the list of claims mentioned in Article R. 624-2. The liquidator must file the completed list with the court registry. Any creditor may consult it.

Cass. com., 29 June 2022, LawLex202200009310JBJ (RJ).

C. com., art. L. 624-1, para. 2, applicable to the receivership procedure by reference to art. L. 641-4, al. 3 C. com.

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

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

C. com., art. R. 624-1, para. 4, applicable to the receivership procedure by reference to art. R. 641-28 C. com.

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

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

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

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

Cass. com., 17 September 2013, LawLex202100002345JBJ (LJ).

C. com. R. 624-1, para. 1, applicable to the receivership procedure by reference to art. R. 641-28 C. com. which provides that the verification of claims is carried out by the liquidator, the debtor and, where applicable, the appointed controllers, present or duly summoned.

See, by analogy, Cass. com. on 25 October 2017, LawLex202100002829JBJ (RJ), holding that social security bodies must establish their claim by producing an enforcement order within the timeframe given to the receiver to verify the liabilities, as indicated in the opening judgment, without the latter being required to remind them.

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

C. com. R. 624-1, para. 3, applicable to the receivership procedure by reference to art. R. 641-28.

C. com., art. R. 624-1, applicable to the receivership procedure by reference to art. R. 641-28 C. com.

Bankruptcy Law

749. Claims verification procedure

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749. Claims verification procedure

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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