The arbitration court fined a lawyer for the first time for trolling an opponent

< br />

MOSCOW, February 9 The Moscow Arbitration Court fined a representative of one of the parties for disrespectful statements addressed to an opponent, two higher authorities supported this decision, it follows from published judicial acts .
A precedent occurred in the bankruptcy case of the insurance company Spasskie Vorota — M. There they considered the application of the bankruptcy trustee, the Deposit Insurance Agency, to recover losses from the former controlling persons of the debtor.
In a written response to the DIA’s position, a lawyer representing one of the defendants used expressions such as “it is only regrettable that the basic cognitive activity of some young lawyers is directed only to search engines on the Internet (Google, Yandex and others)”; “however, this is just an unfounded statement by a person with barely completed higher legal education and no experience in economic activity” and others.

The DIA asked the court to fine the lawyer, since his written statements contradict the norms of the Arbitration Procedural Code and do not comply with the Lawyer’s Code of Professional Ethics.

The court of first instance noted that representatives of persons participating in the case have the right to use various means of expression to reflect their position.
“At the same time, as follows from the legal position of the defendant, signed by the representative Babitsyn D.A., the latter, using formulations of a pejorative nature in relation to the representative of the manager, <…> without showing dignity, courtesy, appropriate to the representative of the person participating in the case, tolerance, thereby creating a potential conflict situation,” the court noted.
The lawyer was found guilty of contempt of the arbitration court and the participants in the process and was fined two thousand rubles. The courts of appeal and cassation agreed with these conclusions.
The decision was commented on by Danila Semenov from the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners. He said that previously the courts did not impose fines in such cases: it was believed that in order to show contempt of court, representatives must either directly use abusive or obscene language, or speak disrespectfully directly about the judge hearing the case. Now, the agency’s interlocutor believes, the court’s conclusions on imposing a fine can become practical and help establish a more respectful and business-like atmosphere in arbitration courts.