News
The team of the law firm “Rustam Kurmaev & Partners” defended the interests of SERGEY SKURATOV ARCHITECTS, a leading architectural bureau in Russia, in a dispute with Capital Group for 267 million rubles.
The developer Capital Group presented our client with a demand for payment of a penalty in the amount of 260 million rubles. for failure to meet deadlines for the development of the architectural concept, design and working documentation for the premium complex of residential skyscrapers Capital Towers in Moscow City. SERGEY SKURATOV ARCHITECTS declared the claims presented to be insolvent and accused the customer of late payment for work performed, and also presented a counterclaim for payment of a penalty in the amount of 7 million rubles. The Moscow Arbitration Court sided with Capital Group and collected a penalty in the amount of 100 million rubles from the architectural bureau, reducing the total amount of recovery on the basis of Art. 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and satisfied the requirements of the architectural bureau only in the amount of 900 thousand rubles. The RKP team was faced with the task of protecting the interests of SERGEY SKURATOV ARCHITECTS after a negative result in the first instance.
Despite the fact that the courts often support the customer’s position in such disputes, the RKP team proved that the delay in completing the work was due to the fault of Capital Group: the appellate court analyzed in detail the process of developing documentation and identified periods when the delay in completing the work was due to the fault of the customer. As a result, the courts of appeal and cassation concluded that there were no grounds for collecting a penalty, since the customer did not fulfill his own obligations, allowed the creditor to delay and, through his actions (inaction), deprived the architectural bureau of the opportunity to complete the work on time.
The interests of SERGEY SKURATOV ARCHITECTS were represented by managing partner Rustam Kurmaev, partner Vasily Malinin and head of the department Yaroslav Shitsle.
Vasily Malinin, partner, commented on the successfully completed project: “Our company’s expertise in the real estate and construction sector, as well as extensive experience in litigation in this area, helps us achieve success even after negative judicial decisions have been issued for our clients. We are glad that key market players are contacting us. It was an honor for us to protect the interests of one of the best architectural bureaus in the country, whose completed projects determine the current appearance of our capital.”