Problems of Applying the Doctrine "Lifting the Corporate Veil" in Judicial Practice of the Russian Federation

This work is devoted to the analysis of the provisions of current legislation, judicial practice, as well as the views expressed by legal scholars in the scientific literature concerning the existence of the doctrine of «lifting the corporate veil» in the Russian Federation, as well as its application by the courts in resolving disputes. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that despite the attempts of the legislator to introduce into legislation a general rule on the removal of the corporate veil, there is currently no such rule at the legislative level. Not having its own regulatory framework, in the form of a special rule enshrined in legislation, the doctrine is mentioned by the parties in their procedural documents and courts in the reasoning part of the decisions, which indicates the uncertainty of its status. An analysis of judicial practice has led to the conclusion that the doctrine often being considered is to be used as a supplement to the legal mechanisms already enshrined in legislation and pointing to it by persons involved in the case or by the courts only helps to strengthen the argument. In most court decisions where the plaintiffs asked to resolve the dispute, using the doctrine in question as an independent regulatory basis based on the general provisions of civil law, the courts refused the plaintiffs to apply it because they chose a method of protection unforeseen by the legislator. The courts note that there are mechanisms in the current legislation that allow to achieve results similar to the doctrine considered, which the plaintiffs can resort to, such as bringing to joint and subsidiary responsibility, otherwise they ask the court to «settle the relations not settled by the legislator». In this regard, in the framework of this work, an analysis of mechanisms similar to the doctrine was also made.