Timeshare Litigation Case Study
Client Nationality: German
Defendant Resort: Anfi
Resolution Location: Gran Canaria Canary Islands, Spain
Judicial Level: First Instance Court / High Court Appeal Rejected
Case Type: Civil
Timeshare Structure: Floating Timeshare Week
Amount Awarded: 42,466.62€
Canarian Legal Alliance are always happy to announce pay-outs. One of the best and most satisfying days for our whole team is the day we call our client and inform them that the money they won in court is going to be in their bank account the next day.
It’s no secret that some resorts – and by some we mean mostly Anfi – try to delay paying our clients for as long as possible. They lodge appeals they know they can’t win and constantly move funds from one bank account to another. Our legal team are not only experts in timeshare litigation they are now experts in finding the money!!
Client Story:
Our client is one of the many clients who purchased a floating week in perpetuity at Anfi Beach Club.
A floating week was supposed to be the ultimate flexible holiday product. No longer would you be burdened with the restrictions of owning a fixed week. A floating week was your key to holidaying whenever you wanted. Sounds great right?
Sadly as most clients found out these weeks were not as “flexible” as they had been led to believe. Whenever they tried to book anything time and time again they were told it wasn’t available. What was supposed to be their dream holiday product became an expensive nightmare.
Action Taken by CLA:
CLA presented their case in October 2017 and six months later the case was already won in the First Instance Court SBT.
Anfi did their usual trick of appealing the decision at which point CLA immediately presented an enforcement requesting the court to provisionally embargo these funds for our clients.
After another 7 months we received provisional funds from the court of 27,753.96€. This was only part of the court awarded fees because as usual Anfi had moved funds out of the bank account we had asked to be embargoed. Undeterred we submitted a list of additional bank accounts which we had uncovered and 3 months later the court was able to issue a cheque for a further 14,712.66€ which they found in another account.
One month after receiving the second cheque Anfi lost their appeal in the High Court and the sentence was finalised and we were able to send this money to our clients.
Resort Infraction & Sentence Summary:
Using the rulings handed down by the Supreme Court the judge of the First Instance used the Spanish Timeshare Law of 42/98 and declared our clients contract null and void on the basis that it did not include any end date. By law a timeshare contract must be valid for no longer than 50 years and must be clearly indicated on the contract. The judge also indicated the illegality practiced by Anfi in taking a deposit before the allowed cooling off period, stating a consumer must be given a certain amount of time to decide whether it’s a purchase he or she wishes to make.
This is yet another example of the clear impact the numerous sentences from the highest-ranking court in Spain are having. The Supreme Court has been clear in their sentencing, creating precedent which all lower courts must now follow.
The Team:
Congratulations to our Claims consultant Jasmin Erhard and to our Lawyer Cristina Batista
