Identification of a bankruptcy estate's accountant and the estate under section 5-15 subsection 1 third sentence of the Creditors' Security Act
Supreme Court judgment 1 July 2021, HR-2021-1442-A, (case no. 21-000286SIV-HRET), civil case, appeal against judgment.
RABG AS (Counsel Jacob Sverdrup Bjønness-Jacobsen) v. M3 Anlegg AS’s bankruptcty estate (Counsel Roald Angell)
Justices: Matheson, Kallerud, Ringnes, Bergh og Høgetveit Berg
A bankruptcy estate had requested annulment of a partial payment from a bankruptcy debtor to a creditor. The request was complied with by the District Court and the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court, having limited the hearing to the question whether there was a basis for identification between the accountant and the "estate" under section 5-15 subsection 1 third sentence of the Creditors' Security Act, set aside the Court of Appeal's judgment. The Supreme Court found, like the Court of Appeal, that the estate's accountant was not covered by the term "estate" in section 5-15 subsection 1 third sentence. As opposed to the Court of Appeal, however, the Supreme Court found that the estate's accountant, on a non-statutory basis, can be identified with the bankruptcy estate when determining the commencement of the limitation period under section 5-15 subsection 1 third sentence. Decisive weight was placed on the crucial assistance the accountant had provided during the bankruptcy proceedings.