EPAM has secured its latest victory in a series of significant cases representing consumers in disputes with grid companies over payment for electricity consumption outside the scope of a contract, where the amounts demanded vastly exceed the cost of the electricity actually used.
Working on behalf of food producer Solntse Mexico, part of the Gruma group, the global leader of corn and flour tortilla production worldwide and headquartered in Mexico, a team of the Firm’s associates successfully argued the case before the Moscow District Commercial Court. The Court overturned a previous ruling from the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeal, which would have required the client to reimburse RUB 120 million in unjust enrichment in the form of electricity consumed outside the scope of a contract. A Moscow City Commercial Court decision requiring the recovery of RUB 1.3 million, reflecting the amount of electricity actually consumed, from the client was upheld.
The court took into account the factual circumstances of the case and irregularities on the part of the grid company involved. A unique aspect of the Firm’s success lies in the fact that, on the whole, legal practice in this area does not favour consumers.
Representing the Client in this case were Partners Valery Eremenko and Taras Rabko, Counsel Ekaterina Slivko, Senior Associate Sergey Ustalov, and Associates Ruslan Mekhtiev and Anton Kleshchenko.
Solntse Mexico, part of Gruma International Food headquartered in Mexico, has been operating in Russia since 1996. In the autumn of 2017, Solntse Mexico launched new production site near Moscow; the factory became the 75th one of Gruma International Foods worldwide.
