The Supreme Court explained that joint liability in bankruptcy cannot be determined without certain conditions

The Cassation Commercial Court as part of the Supreme Court emphasized that joint liability in bankruptcy cannot be determined without completing the realization of the liquidation estate and establishing the actual amount of unsatisfied creditor claims. This was reported by the Northwestern Appellate Commercial Court.

The Supreme Court agreed with the conclusions of the Northwestern Appellate Commercial Court set out in the ruling dated 12.03.2026 in case No. 924/922/21.

The Commercial Court of Khmelnytskyi region is handling case No. 924/922/21 based on the application of the Public Joint Stock Company Joint Stock Bank "Ukrgasbank" against the Agricultural Service Cooperative "First National Agrarian Cooperative" regarding the opening of bankruptcy proceedings.

By the ruling of the Commercial Court of Khmelnytskyi region dated 05.01.2026 in case No. 924/922/21, the application of the liquidator of the Agricultural Service Cooperative "First National Agrarian Cooperative," arbitration manager Natalia Viktorivna Hapina, on imposing joint liability on the debtor's management bodies was granted.

By the decision of the Northwestern Appellate Commercial Court dated 12.03.2026, among other things: the ruling of the Commercial Court of Khmelnytskyi region dated 05.01.2026 in case No. 924/922/21 was canceled; a new court decision was made denying the liquidator's application of the Agricultural Service Cooperative "First National Agrarian Cooperative," arbitration manager Natalia Viktorivna Hapina, on imposing joint liability on the debtor's management bodies; the imposition of joint liability for unsatisfied creditor claims of the debtor Agricultural Service Cooperative "First National Agrarian Cooperative" on the head of the cooperative, Serhiy Volodymyrovych Herasymiuk, was denied; the recovery of UAH 131,705,063.50 from Serhiy Volodymyrovych Herasymiuk in favor of the Agricultural Service Cooperative "First National Agrarian Cooperative" as joint liability for unsatisfied creditor claims of the cooperative was denied.

The Supreme Court agreed with the appellate court's conclusions and noted that on 04.06.2025, a private executor, in accordance with Article 56 of the Law of Ukraine "On Enforcement Proceedings," issued a ruling on the description and seizure of the debtor's property according to the list.

As of 08.12.2025, within consolidated enforcement proceeding No. 63234401, an appraisal of the above-mentioned real estate of the debtor is being conducted. As of 08.12.2025, the sale of this real estate has not been carried out. The private executor reported that from 12.01.2022 until the date of response to the inquiry – 08.12.2025, no funds were collected under consolidated enforcement proceeding No. 63234401 and no payments were made to repay the debt to the Public Joint Stock Company Joint Stock Bank "Ukrgasbank."

These circumstances indicate that in the future changes should occur regarding the satisfaction of the initiating creditor's claims, which will affect the amount claimed by the liquidator as joint liability for unsatisfied creditor claims of the Agricultural Service Cooperative "First National Agrarian Cooperative."

The panel of judges of the cassation court, considering the above, agrees that in case No. 924/922/21, not all actions provided by the Commercial Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy (CCUB) necessary to identify and return the bankrupt's property, complete the realization of property included in the liquidation estate, and settle accounts with creditors from the proceeds of such realization have been performed.

Under these circumstances, considering that filing a claim to the court to impose joint liability on the debtor's management bodies for the debtor's obligations in bankruptcy requires the claimant to determine the amount of this liability and to submit a claim to the joint liable party for the recovery of the corresponding amount to satisfy those creditor claims that remain unsatisfied due to the violation committed by such party, and also taking into account that the liquidator's determination of the amount of UAH 131,705,063.50 claimed from Serhiy V. Herasymiuk is erroneous, since applying such an approach would lead to obviously unfair results where a person who violated the requirements of part 6 of Article 34 of the CCUB could be held liable in an amount greater than the damage caused to creditors by such violation, or even in the absence of such damage, the panel of judges of the cassation court concluded that the provisions of Article 34 of the CCUB were correctly applied when adopting the ruling of the Northwestern Appellate Commercial Court dated 12.03.2026 in case No. 924/922/21.

This conclusion was reached by the Supreme Court in the panel of judges of the Cassation Commercial Court in the ruling dated 27.05.2026, which left unchanged the ruling of the Northwestern Appellate Commercial Court dated 12.03.2026 in case No. 924/922/21.

The full text of the Supreme Court ruling in the panel of judges of the Cassation Commercial Court dated 27.05.2026 in case No. 924/922/21 can be found at this link.

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