“Limits of freedom of contract on the example of a contractual condition prohibiting the collection of fines (Russian Supreme Court decision from 14.07.2020 N 306-ES20–2351). Is it so or not?” — Tatyana Tereshchenko’s blog
Russian Supreme Court in the decision of July 14, 2020 N 306-ES20-2351 indicated that the contractual condition of the inability to collect fines is a violation of the limits of freedom of contract and therefore null and void, since it exempts from liability for intentional violations.
A number of arguments of SC RF, which are the basis of the position, are quite worthy of attention, but some statements make one think and raise questions.
By itself, the chain of reasoning constructed SC RF makes ones fear that in this way, judicial practice may consider any contractual condition by which the parties limit liability (for example, limit losses to a specific type and amount, etc.) as potentially invalid and unenforceable. However, this should not be the case. After all, the Supreme Court speaks about the limits of freedom of contract, and any restriction, including the judicial position, cannot be interpreted broadly.