1. The subject of the dispute is the application of JSC “Ukrtelecom” for the recovery from Individual Entrepreneur Hoya M.I. of expenses for professional legal assistance incurred in connection with the cassation proceedings in the case of recovery of damages and transfer of the rights and obligations of the lessee.
2. The court partially satisfied the application of JSC “Ukrtelecom”, motivating this by the fact that the expenses for professional legal assistance are subject to distribution between the parties, taking into account the criteria of proportionality, reality and reasonableness. The court took into account that the defendant provided evidence of incurring expenses for legal assistance, but recognized the declared amount as overstated, since in two court sessions the cassation review of the case on the merits was not carried out. The court also took into account the plaintiff’s motion to reduce the amount of expenses, which stated that the declared amount was disproportionate to the complexity of the case and the scope of services provided. The court departed from the previous conclusions of the Supreme Court regarding the impossibility of distributing court costs in the event of the closure of cassation proceedings on the basis of paragraph 5 of part 1 of Article 296 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, noting that expenses for professional legal assistance should be imposed on the party that allowed the unreasonable filing of a cassation appeal.
3. The court ruled to recover from Individual Entrepreneur Hoya M.I. in favor of JSC “Ukrtelecom” UAH 15,000 of expenses for professional legal assistance incurred in connection with the review of the case in the court of cassation instance, and dismissed the rest of the application.
