Victory! Court dismissed a €110,000 loan claim

The court dismissed a €110,005 loan claim filed by one company against another. In case no. 2-19-13673, the courts found that the claimant had not proven that a loan agreement had been concluded, meaning the money could not be claimed back.

NAMM attorney-at-law Nele Tammemäe and counsel Küllike Namm represented a financial company in liquidation from which the claimant sought repayment of money allegedly transferred as a loan, together with interest and default interest. The client argued that the parties had not concluded a loan agreement.

The dispute centred on whether a mere money transfer and a later acknowledgement of debt prove the existence of a loan agreement. The courts found that they do not: to conclude a loan agreement, the parties must have reached an agreement on the repayment of money, and the claimant had not shown this. The acknowledgement of debt had been signed by a person who no longer had authority to represent the company at the time. The client also won before the Supreme Court of Estonia, which sent the matter for a new hearing; after that, the opposing party’s claim was finally dismissed.

The judgment is important for every entrepreneur who transfers money without putting a clear agreement in place: a repayment claim requires a proven agreement, not only a payment order. The Supreme Court judgment is available here and the Court of Appeal judgment here.