Browse Tag

Marriott

End the Week: Court Roundup

Welcome to the end of another week in the world of timeshare, it certainly has been a rather busy week with yet another new “fake” law firm rearing its ugly head. It is the latest incarnation of that long-standing fraud of “fake” law firms we have dubbed the Litigious Abogados Family, this time they really have surpassed themselves in the photographs they have used. According to the Las Alas Abogados website their founder Alberto Canbamo Farola is in fact none other than the serving President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador. They have also used the photograph of Carlos Torres Vila, who is the President of the BBVA Banking Group, as one of their lawyers Antonio Lamamel Cunio. They also used a photograph taken in Mexico of Vila at a meeting with the Mexican President. The Mexican Authorities and the BBVA have already been informed. Yesterday we published the story of the Radio 4 You and Yours broadcast on maintenance fees during the current pandemic. We end this week with the following court news.

On Monday, the Court of First Instance of San Bartelomé de Tirajana declared yet another Anfi contract null and void.

The court awarded the German client over 44,000€ plus legal interest. When calculating the award, the Judge also ordered that the client should receive double the amount of the deposit taken during the statutory cooling-off period.

The client was represented by the Canarian Legal Alliance lawyer Oscar Salvador Santana Gonzalez, with the client being assisted by the Claims Consultant Jasmin Erhard.

The following day it was another Anfi case at the Court of First Instance of SBT which declared another contract null and void.

This particular case was dealt with at the pre-trial stage as the Judge decided that there was no need to waste time and go to a full trial. This is becoming increasingly more common after all these judges have now been hearing these cases for years and they are tied to the rulings made by the Supreme Court on timeshare law.

In this case, the Norwegian client is to receive 44,688€ plus legal interest, with the court awarding double the deposit paid within the cooling-off period.

The client was represented by the CLA lawyers Eva Gutierrez and Himar Iglesias Pérez, with Claims Consultant Michael Gadman assisting the client.

No doubt we will see Anfi attempting to delay payments by instigating an appeal to the High Court, we cannot actually fathom out why they would do this as in every case they have appealed, the High Court has confirmed the original sentence returning it to the original court for execution of sentence.

On Wednesday it was the turn of Club la Costa to lose in the Court of First Instance in Fuengirola.

The court awarded the German client 41,448€ plus legal interest and legal fees. The court in calculating the award also followed the Supreme Court rulings which confirmed that the taking of deposits within the cooling-off period was illegal, awarded the client over 20,000€ for the cancellation of their contract plus a further 21,000€ in respect of the illegally taken deposits.

Once again the client was represented by the CLA Lawyer Oscar Salvador Santana Gonzalez, with the client being assisted by the Claims Consultant Michael Gadman.

On Thursday it was the turn of Palm Oasis, Tasolan SL to payout a client whose contract has been declared null and void with the return of their full purchase price.

In this case, the payment has already been transferred to the client’s own bank account, they have now received their award of 15,834€.

The English client was represented by the Lawyer Eva Gutierrez with Claims Consultant Jake Kaiser assisting.

Today we also highlight a case from an independent lawyer who specialises in timeshare cases.

Javier Correa announced yesterday that in the Court of First Instance of Marbella he had a total victory against Marriott (MVCI). The companies involved are MVCI Holidays and MVCI Management.

The court declared the contract null and void with the client being awarded £28,220 plus legal interest and legal costs.

These cases certainly show that the courts are siding with the consumer and following the law to the letter. To be honest, it is the timeshare companies’ own fault that they are now being subject to increasing litigation over their contract, after all the laws came into force in January 1999. Surely that is time enough to have changed their ways and complied with the law!

That is all for this week, join us again next week with more news and information on the murky world of timeshare.

Have a great weekend.

End the Week: More Court News

Welcome to the end of another week with Inside Timeshare and what a week it has been, with many enquiries from readers regarding “cold calls” and some of the wild claims being made such as the “fake” claims of Club la Costa and Marriott going into liquidation. This included an update on J Foster Associates who also claim that when the UK leaves the EU with “Brexit” UK clients will not be able to take cases to the Spanish Courts, a claim that is totally untrue. We also featured Part 2 of Timeshare Contracts: Held to Ransom. Plus there were some rather interesting results from the courts. We end this week with the latest court news.

At the High Court Number 11 of Barcelona, it was the turn of the Ona Group to be on the receiving end of an appeal being dismissed and the judgement of the Court of First Instance being upheld.

In the original judgement, the Court of First Instance declared the clients contract null and void, awarding the English client 112,724€ plus legal Interest. In this case, the client paid 70,000€ with the extra 42,724€ being made up of the illegally paid deposit taken within the statutory cooling-off period being awarded double.

It is a buyer’s right to withdraw from any contract without any financial penalty within the statutory cooling-off period, which is why it is illegal to take any payments as in the past this was used as a tool to ensure clients did not cancel.

The cooling-off period can be extended to 90 days, which will mean double the amount paid within that period if the purchaser has not been given the necessary information required by law.

The Lawyer conducting the case was Eva Gutierrez of Canarian Legal Alliance with Claims Consultant Jake Kaiser assisting the client.

In another case conducted by Canarian Legal Alliance on behalf of another English client, the High Court Number 3 of Las Palmas, GC, once again fully endorsed the judgement of the Court of First Instance which Silverpoint Vacations SL appealed.

In this case, the contract was declared null and void with the court ordering Silverpoint to repay 98,722€ plus legal fees and legal interest. Once again the court awarded double the amount paid as a deposit within the statutory cooling-off period.

This is just another nail in the coffin of Silverpoint, it also clearly shows that all the courts are now singing off the hymn sheet and applying the numerous rulings made by the Supreme Court which now number 130.

The case was conducted on behalf of the clients by Oscar Salvador Santana Gonzalez with Claims Consultant Jake Kaiser assisting the client.

No doubt before the end of the day there will be more news coming from the courts which we will bring you next week.

On Monday, Inside Timeshare will be giving an update about the ongoing case of Mrs B and MacDonald Resorts, for those who have been following Inside Timeshare for the past 4 years you will be familiar with the case.

Mrs B paid a company to get rid of her two timeshares, one at Oasis Lanz in Lanzarote, the other at Dona Lola Club on the Costa del Sol, a Macdonald run resort. Both were duly transferred to another person, no problem with Oasis Lanz, they just accepted it, not so for MacDonald’s.

They have pursued Mrs B with debt collectors and law firms for the arrears as they do not recognise the transfer. The latest news is that McDonald’s “legal bully boys” Shepherd and Wedderburn based in Scotland are now intent on taking her to court with her sister.

Both are in their 90’s and both have serious health issues, with both being virtually housebound. Yet Shepherd and Wedderburn are sending them documents of cases (6 in total) that they have conducted for MacDonald Resorts over arrears and won. If these are not tactics to scare two elderly ladies I don’t know what is. Join us on Monday for the latest instalment of this disgusting case.

Have a good weekend and take care.

Updates: Fake Liquidation of Club la Costa & The Club Paradiso Liquidation

Yesterday Inside Timeshare published the story being put around by some “cold calling claims & exit” companies that Club la Costa is going into liquidation tomorrow Friday 16 October 2020. Today we have some new information on that piece of fake news which also included the fake news that Marriott was also going into liquidation. We also bring you the latest news on the liquidation of Club Paradiso Ltd, this is the club based at the Paramount in Tenerife and is part of the Limora Group. The club memberships were sold by non-other than our old friend’s Silverpoint who are themselves in the process of liquidation.

First, we take a look at the “fake” news that Club la Costa is going into liquidation this Friday, as we published yesterday this is a total fabrication of the truth, it is a ploy by some unscrupulous companies to scare and take advantage of desperate owners/members. 

According to an email sent by CLC World Chairman, Roy Peires, to members yesterday 14 October, the full story is given.

Basically, due to the Covid19 pandemic, sales of memberships at Club la Costa have been seriously affected, they scaled down the number of staff and many were placed on the furlough scheme.

Well, it is not surprising that sales have been affected as there has really been nobody travelling and that means no one visiting CLC or being taken to presentations. Also, it is not really conducive to conduct sales presentations with the regulations on social distancing and the wearing of masks.

What the Chairman Roy Peires has informed members in his email is that as of Friday 16 October 2020, all sales have been suspended for the foreseeable future. This also means that many staff members will now be out of work.

So as we explained yesterday, this claim by these “cold callers” is a tactic to scare you into paying them to take up your case.

Club la Costa is not going into liquidation.

PDF of the full email from Chairman Roy Peires.

CLC ChairmanDownload

We now move to the letter being received by members of Club Paradiso, which is, in fact, going into liquidation, so that is not a rumour.

Club Pardiso

The letter is from R & H Restructuring based in the British Virgin Islands, they are along with Alvarez and Marsal, also based in the BVI, are Joint Liquidators.

They have appointed Owen Walker of R&H and Barry Lynch of Alvarez and Marsal as the Joint Administrators (JL’s). According to the letter Alex Lawson (Alvarez and Marsal) who was appointed sole administrator of Club Paradiso Ltd has “ceased to have any powers (other than those required or permitted as a matter of British Virgin Islands (BVI) law)”.

Contained in the letter are several options open to members, one is to relinquish their membership, which appears to be free of any charge.

The second option is to take up an offer which the JL’s “consider sufficiently attractive” to members. This offer is from Regency Hotels, who operate The Regency Club Tenerife and The Regency Country Club, Tenerife.

Obviously, this offer has come as Club Paradiso Ltd have not had any luck in finding a third party to continue running the club for the members.

It should also be pointed out at this stage the problem with accepting this offer. If members have filed cases against Silverpoint for the sale of the Club Paradiso membership, with those cases pending a hearing, cancelling the contract will have serious consequences on their cases.

Once the contract has been cancelled, the courts will have no other option than to reject any case where the contract is no longer in existence. So, if you do sign up for the offer and cancel or just purely cancel you will have wasted all your money on the legal fees as there is no longer a valid case.

The last option is making a claim via the JL’s, they invite members to make a claim directly with them as liquidators and even provide a claim form.

At this point Inside Timeshare now has the alarm bells ringing, we envisage within the next couple of weeks a resurgence of “claims & exit” companies getting in on the act and cold calling members with offers of doing the exit or claim for them. In the light of the other articles published on fake news we just wonder what scare tactics they will use to get your money.

The advice from all the lawyers Inside Timeshare has spoken to with cases either in court or pending is simple, do no exit, do not take up the Regency offer and if you decide to attempt a claim directly to the JL’s, find your own solicitor with experience in this field and also having jurisdiction in the BVI to do the work for you or at least give you sound legal advice.

PDF of the Full Letter from R&H Restructuring.

201013 Letter to Members FINAL (T0140)Download

If you have any questions or views on these subjects or any other article, please use our contact page and Inside Timeshare will get back to you.