Major victory for Club La Costa in Spanish Courts
The Spanish commercial courts made a very significant decision which directly affects RDO member Club La Costa.
The Mercantile Courts in Spain ruled in a number of recent decisions that all new claims made against Club La Costa (CLC) will be automatically rejected.
The English translation of one of these rulings is available in the following website managed by the Spanish Insolvency Practitioner, Mr Juan Carlos Robles and can be found here.
A number of Claims Management Companies have encouraged Club La Costa members to take legal action against the company, often by promising significant financial rewards in the form of compensation.
The rulings make it clear that these claims should never have been brought before Spanish courts in accordance with the findings contained in the reports issued by the State Prosecutor as well as the writs filed by the Spanish IP Mr Robles. The claimant’s representatives – and potentially the claimant themselves – may be opening themselves up to consequences given the severe criticism of “territory shopping” raised by the Judges in their rulings.
Unfortunately, Claims Management Companies target members of the public by offering the possibility of significant financial rewards, usually in exchange for upfront payments. These companies have been trying to file claims in Spain over recent years because they could not succeed in the UK, despite the contracts clearly stating they were formed under English Law, between UK companies and UK consumers.
Club La Costa has since closed its timeshare sales operations, which were then placed into a controlled administration last year. Within this legal process, the Spanish courts were able to see all of the detail and made a ruling which contradicted previous lower court rulings on the matters. The decision confirmed that timeshare claims against CLC have no legal validity and will be automatically rejected by the Mercantile Courts.
RDO strongly encourages anyone who has taken legal action against Club La Costa over this issue to seek independent legal advice, and to contact the representative pursuing their claim.
Club La Costa has notified members who elected to take this legal route that they can reinstate their membership. Anyone who wants to discuss this option or clarify any other matters regarding their membership is invited to contact Club La Costa.
It is a matter of regret that Claims Management Companies continue to target timeshare owners. They often misinform members of the public about the legal situation without explaining the full picture and use the promise of financial rewards in the future to entice them into taking action now.
The latest court rulings show that consumers should be extremely wary about doing so.
