Victory! Court dismissed a €15,000 claim against a company

The court dismissed the €15,000 debt claim brought against the company in full. In case no. 2-20-18505, Tallinn Court of Appeal agreed with the County Court that the defendant had no contractual obligation to pay that amount.

NAMM attorney-at-law Nele Tammemäe represented Ö Invest OÜ, against which a claim was filed on the basis of a share purchase agreement. The claimant alleged that the buyer had undertaken to pay €15,000 that had been paid on behalf of one person in a criminal case.

The court explained that no such obligation arose for the defendant from the agreement. The clause of the purchase agreement relied on by the claimant concerned the company’s own obligations, not payments on behalf of third parties. Because the claim was not proven by the agreement, the action was dismissed both in the County Court and in the Court of Appeal, and procedural costs were awarded in favour of the client.

The judgment is important for every entrepreneur entering into purchase agreements or shareholder agreements: an obligation that cannot be clearly read from the contract cannot be imposed on the other party. The judgment is available here.