Point of law: how to determine the amount of profits lost by the defendant as a result of an interlocutory injunction (seizure of shares in dispute) related to a suit which has been eventually dismissed by a court?

Ratio decidendi: the Presidium ruled that:

- objective difficulties in proving losses and their amount, as well as of causal link between losses and an interlocutory injunction (a securing measure) in cases related to deprivation or restriction of shareholders’ control over corporation, must not diminish the level of shareholders’ legal protection whenever their rights are being impinged upon. Extremely high risks of loss or restriction of corporate control may lead to negative consequences for macroeconomic situation and investments, which develop in a substantial degree by way of participation in share capital of corporations;

- court may not fully refuse to satisfy the demands on recovery of losses solely on the ground that the amount of losses may not be determined with reasonable degree of certainty. In such contingency the amount of losses to be recovered shall be determined by the court on the basis of all circumstances of the case and proceeding from the principles of justness and proportionality;

- dismissal of a suit on recovery of losses caused by an interlocutory injunction related to demands which eventually proved to be ungrounded would mean the absence of the necessary preventive influence upon persons who present unsubstantiated demands and apply for interlocutory injunctions in relation to them. It does not conform to public policy, however, to stimulate either unsubstantiated demands or exoneration of persons who bring such demands.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.