Musioł & Partners wins six landmark cases against The Bank of New York Mellon

On January 20, 2010, the Polish Supreme Court issued a landmark resolution confirming our Law Firm's legal interpretation of the EU insolvency regulations that the circle of entities entitled to initiate secondary bankruptcy proceedings in Poland is limited exclusively to local creditors, i.e., entities based in Poland.

The motions submitted by The Bank of New York Mellon, based in New York and London, to initiate secondary, liquidatory bankruptcy proceedings for six companies of the Polish-French Sobieski-Belvedere Group were among the first such cases following Poland's accession to the European Union and the application of European legal regulations on international insolvency proceedings in Poland.

These EU regulations allow for the initiation of liquidatory bankruptcy proceedings in Poland – secondary to the main bankruptcy proceedings opened in other EU countries (here – France). One of the main objectives of these regulations is to protect local interests: local creditors and businesses, as well as the economic interests of the state where the secondary bankruptcy is to be initiated.

In six cases handled by Musioł & Partners Law Firm, the vast majority of Polish bankruptcy courts confirmed our lawyers' interpretation of European insolvency law. However, the Regional Court in Rzeszów, considering The Bank of New York Mellon's appeal against the decision of the District Court in Rzeszów to dismiss the bankruptcy motion of our Client Fabryka Wódek Polmos Łańcut, took advantage of the opportunity to refer a legal question to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court's resolution of January 20, 2010, confirmed the position of Musioł & Partners' lawyers and prevailed the victory in this case as well, and the dismissal of the bankruptcy application against the Łańcut company.

Thus, all 6 motions for secondary bankruptcy submitted to Polish courts by one of the world's largest financial institutions, represented by the international law firm Clifford Chance, were definitively dismissed, saving the legal existence of the involved Polish companies.

"The legal expertise of attorney Marek Musioł's law firm, as well as the legal opinions obtained by it, prepared by international experts in the field of bankruptcy law, and the determination of the entire law firm team were essential support for the Sobieski Group in the court battle declared against us. The chosen defense strategy proved to be correct, as evidenced by the Supreme Court's resolution."

(a press statement from Krzysztof Tryliński, General Director of the Belvedere Group)