Defending the interests of Salavatneftekhimremstroy at the appellate instance in a case seeking the subcontractor’s recovery of unjustified enrichment

On 23 May 2017, the Ninth Commercial Appellate Court considered the appeal by SV TRANS of the decision by the Moscow City Commercial Court rejecting its claims against Salavatneftekhimremstroy seeking the recovery of unjustified enrichment in an amount of over RUB 70 mln.

In rejecting the claim, the court of first instance had agreed with the position asserted by Ost legal, to the effect that non-presentation of the original contract on whose basis the claimant had made the disputed payment did not in and of itself constitute conclusive evidence of the absence of legal grounds for its execution. The court evaluated the circumstances of the case in their totality and found that the disputed payment had been made for the general contracting services that Ost Legal’s client had rendered to its opponent – hired as a subcontractor for the construction of an oil refinery. The appellate court sided with this position as well, upholding the decision by the court of first instance.

The interests of the client in the dispute were represented by Ost Legal partners Vadim Tsvetkov and Ivan Suzdalev.