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Marriott

Start the Week: Marriott Complies with Court Order

Welcome to the start of another week with Inside Timeshare, today we take a look at a case from the Court of First Instance of Marbella which, unlike many other cases we have been following, has been completed in record time. We have to ask the question why has this case only taken 10 months to go through the courts with the sentence issued and payment made to the court.

This case involved German clients who purchased two contracts with Marriott at Son Antem, with deposits taken within the statutory cooling-off period, along with a floating weeks system and contracts with a duration of more than 50 years.

The Court of First Instance Number 8 of Marbella declared both contracts null and void plus awarded the clients 49,084€ for the purchase. The court also in accordance with the Supreme Court rulings on the taking of illegal deposits ordered a further 32,124€ which is double the amount taken in illegal deposits.

In total the court has awarded 81,208€ plus the clients have also been awarded legal interest and the return of their legal fees.

In just two months of the judgement, Marriott has already voluntarily deposited the full amount with the court, making this one of the speediest cases we have seen for a long time. When we take into account the time to translate the documents, prepare the case, submit it to the court then the 8 months for the case to be heard once filed, we have a case that has probably taken just around 12 months from start to finish.

So why has this case with Marriott been so quick?

One part of the answer can be found in our articles published 2018 and again in March 2021, in these articles, we reported that Marriott, which is a public company, has to make a full report to shareholders and the Securities Exchange Commission. In these reports (which can be found on the links to the previous articles), Marriott admitted they are losing in the courts and especially the Spanish Courts.

Marriott also announced that it had set aside litigation expenses of $16.3 million in respect of cases in the US and Spain. We have so far not seen anything like this from any other timeshare company, let alone admitting they are losing.

This aside, there are also the tactics that are being employed by other timeshare resorts of causing delays with late filings at court, constant appeals, and arguments over minor points of the case. The main culprits using these methods are our old friends at Anfi and we have to say that even Club la Costa has used similar methods in the past.

What we have seen with these delaying tactics are the courts becoming very frustrated with the timeshare resorts, in many cases the High Court has increased the payment awarded, adding the legal fees where they had not been granted by the lower courts. These can be considered to be punishment by the courts and they are well within their rights to do so.

It should also be considered how much it must cost in legal fees to their own lawyers, to constantly appeal, counterappeal, and file representations as to why the case should not be heard.

Obviously, Marriott, having to report their finances to shareholders and the Securities Exchange Commission, having to justify any expenditure, and reduction in profits to shareholders is a major factor in what Marriott appears to be playing ball. All we can say is this is good news for Marriott members with cases at court.

This case was brought on behalf of the clients by Canarian Legal Alliance, with the Lawyers Aroa Farray and Christine Ihmann with Claims Consultant Evi Richter assisting the client.

Links to past articles

https://insidetimeshare.com/marriott-admit-losing-in-spanish-courts/

https://insidetimeshare.com/the-tuesday-slot-marriott-and-the-spanish-courts/

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Start the Week: A Slow Return

Welcome back to Inside Timeshare, we intend to begin to publish new articles but not in the number previously, the return is going to be slow with at least two or three a week. Inside Timeshare would also like to thank our US friends for their help in preparing the weekly Letter from America which has helped to keep the publication going. Today we publish a quick roundup of court news over the past couple of months.

News from the courts comes in on a daily basis, since Inside Timeshare stopped publishing the courts have certainly been very busy especially the Courts of First Instance and the High Courts of Gran Canaria. 

High Court, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

The bulk of the cases which have been concluded are against our old friends Anfi, these have been First Instance trials where the clients have had their contracts declared null and void. The courts have also ordered Anfi to repay in full plus interest the full purchase price, this includes the repayment in double any illegally taken deposit.

We are only at the beginning of July and there have already been two cases from the High Court where Anfi appealed the original sentence of the lower court. As we are all familiar with the Anfi tactics of appealing every sentence, it is clear the High Courts view this with disdain and have dismissed every appeal and confirmed the original sentence.

This case involving an English client, first went to the Court of First Instance where the contract was declared null and void plus the return of all payments. Anfi, as we have come to expect, appealed this decision to the High Court. Court Number 5 of Las Palmas again dismissed the appeal and confirmed the original sentence.

They confirmed the original award of 31,996€ plus legal interest and costs, this amount is 14,000€ more than the client originally paid and reflects the payment of double any payments taken illegally within the statutory cooling-off period.

The second appeal to be announced was once again from the High Court Number 5, where a Danish client had their original sentence confirmed once again dismissing the appeal from Anfi.

The contract was confirmed as null and void and the court confirmed the payment of 25,520€ plus legal interest and costs. Again we see the client receive 10,000€ more than they originally paid which reflects the courts following the law and ordering the repayment in double of any amount taken illegally during the cooling-off period.

Courts of First Instance Marbella

At the end of June, there were also two cases from the Courts of First Instance of Marbella involving Marriott.

Both cases are German clients who both had their contracts declared null and void with the return of their full payment.

The first client has been awarded 49,300€ plus legal interest and costs, this is 29,000€ more than they originally paid which is reflected in the doubling of the illegally taken deposit.

The second German client will receive 53,180€ plus legal interest and costs, in this case, the client receives 6000€ more due to illegally taken deposits.

These cases were prepared and conducted on behalf of the clients by the Lawyers of Canarian Legal Alliance.

It is very clear from these cases that the courts are following the letter of the law, by applying the payment in double any illegally taken payment, it is also very clear the appeal courts are upholding the sentences of the lower courts. This does make you wonder why these companies continue to lodge appeals.

That is all for today, once again Inside Timeshare apologises to our readers for the lack of articles and we hope to be running at full tilt in the coming weeks.

Start the Week: News from the Courts, Marriott and Anfi Lose Again

Welcome to the start of another week with Inside Timeshare, we start this week with news from the courts with Marriott and Anfi losing in all cases and a payment to a client from Anfi. Last week we highlighted a new “cold caller” and website which we believe to be another “lead generator” for unnamed “claims and exit” companies. Inside Timeshare received an email from a lady who answered an advert for “telemarketing” staff and gave Inside Timeshare some more valuable information.

As we explained in one of the articles, many of the staff are just ordinary people answering an advert for staff, with the situation regarding employment any offer of a job is welcome. Unfortunately, it is these people who are also being taken in by the less scrupulous of these operators, being told what to say and how to get you the timeshare owner to pay up and sign with their company.

Luckily, this particular reader realised within a few weeks that something was not right with this company and found them to be “dodgy”, terminating their employment immediately. The information supplied regarding Independent Timeshare Assistance is rather interesting.

It would appear that a person by the name of Chris Wilson, a name that does ring a few bells, is the one behind it and is actively recruiting new staff with more adverts, these also seem to be based in Portugal.

According to our information, these “clients” are being sought on behalf of a “law firm” based in Scotland. Well we do have our suspicions on who these are and they are not law firms, but more companies set up by ex-sales staff and sales managers from Diamond and others.

Again this does show how careful you need to be, not just as a timeshare owner but also an employee answering adverts for “call centre” staff, you may believe that it is a legitimate job, but you could also be fooled into working for a scam operation.

In a case that has set new records for the speed for the case to go through the courts, Marriott has lost another case at the Court of First Instance Number 4 of Palma de Mallorca. This case has taken a remarkable 6 months to be processed through the courts, a bit of a miracle to those who know the Spanish legal system.

The German clients of Canarian Legal Alliance had their contract with Marriott Vacation Club declared null and void, with the court ordering the repayment of 21,150€ plus legal interest and legal costs.

This also included the repayment of double the amount taken illegally as a deposit within the statutory cooling-off period, in accordance with the law and the rulings of the Supreme Court.

The case was prepared and conducted by the CLA Lawyers Adrián Diaz Saavedra Morales and Christine Ihmann, with Claims Consultant Evi Richter assisting the client throughout the process.

In another case against Anfi at the Court of First Instance Number 2 of San Bartelóme de Tirajana, a Norwegian client of CLA has had their contract with Anfi terminated and declared null and void. They have also been awarded 102,576€ plus legal interest and legal costs.

Again the courts recognised the illegality of the taking of payments within the statutory cooling-off period and awarded double the amount as established by previous rulings and the law.

The case was prepared and conducted on behalf of the client by CLA Lawyer Eva Gutierrez with the client being assisted by Claims Consultant Caroline Castro.

We end today with the good news received by one English client of CLA and their battle against Anfi coming to a successful conclusion. They have now received directly into their own bank account the full award of 17,551€ Anfi were ordered to repay by the courts.

The original case was heard at the Court of First Instance Number 5 of SBT, where the contract was declared null and void and the repayment to the client was ordered, as was expected, Anfi once again filed an appeal with the High Court.

The lawyers are now well aware of these tactics and as soon as the sentence is issued by the Court of First Instance they begin a “provisional execution of sentence”, this then secures the funds on behalf of the client until the sentence is confirmed by the High Court.

We all know that Anfi “plays” the game of appeal in order to delay payment, they are also known to “hide the funds”, in order to claim they have no money to payout. This is subject to an official investigation by the Provincial State Prosecutors Office, this may very well lead to criminal prosecutions.

Thanks to the diligent work and investigations of the legal team at CLA, this client received their payment from monies embargoed by CLA from a tax refund Anfi was supposed to receive. In the end, Anfi will pay, it is just a case of plugging away and “chasing the money-go-round”.

This case was prepared and conducted on behalf of the English Client by Eva Gutierrez with Claims Consultant Jake Kaiser assisting the client during the process.

That is all for today, if you have any questions or comments, or you would like information on a possible legal case or just how to exit, please use our contact page and Inside Timeshare will get back to you.