In a remarkable announcement the Supreme Court has made another historic ruling this time against Silverpoint. This case involves a retired lady from Yorkshire and has taken 5 years of legal battles to achieve.
The story begins when she purchased a timeshare at Club Paradiso in Tenerife, which she paid £25,000 with the promise that she could sell it at anytime as it would increase in value. This never materialised, she was then lumbered with annual maintenance fees.
In her first court hearing at the Court of First Instance they found in her favour, Silverpoint then took this to appeal at the High Court. This court overruled the first judgement and found for Silverpoint. Their argument was that Club Paradiso did not come under timeshare law as it was a “club affiliation”.
The lawyers at Canarian Legal Alliance did not agree and the case was then taken to the Supreme Court. In their deliberations 8 of the 9 Judges ruled that Club Paradiso did indeed come under timeshare law.
Within two days Canarian Legal Alliance received another ruling against Silverpoint, this time it was a Belgian Client who is now free of their ownership at Hollywood Mirage. Their contract has been declared null and void with the return of over 33,000€ plus legal interest and legal fees. The ruling in this instance was the length of their contract, being over 50 years or in perpetuity.
Canarian Legal Alliance issued the following press release on 20 January 2017:
Canarian Legal Alliance is proud to announce that on 16 January 2017 another historical verdict was delivered by The Supreme Court of Spain.
The case began with the Court of First Instance finding for the CLA British client, this was overruled by the High Court in Tenerife, when the timeshare company Silverpoint appealed the first decision. The High Court’s opinion was that the Silverpoint product Club Paradiso did not fall under timeshare law 42/98, as they considered it was an “affiliation to a club”.
Canarian Legal Alliance felt this decision was flawed and ignored the rights of the consumer, thus appealing to the Supreme Court for clarification of the law. 8 of the 9 judges who studied the case considered that it was indeed a timeshare product as members paid a yearly maintenance fee, which is part and parcel of timeshare. They also concluded that even though the club membership was without a concrete apartment number or week, it was considered a timeshare and was regulated by the appropriate laws.
This is a groundbreaking verdict which will not only affect Club Paradiso and Silverpoint, but will have a significant effect many other club schemes and points systems in Spain.
Another aspect of this verdict was the court’s opinion the British client was a “consumer and not an investor”, again rejecting the ruling from the High Court in Tenerife. Considering this ruling now regards our client as a consumer and timeshare law applies, it gives all consumers of these products protection under the law.
Our clients contract was declared null and void, thus being Silverpoint was ordered to return to the client all payments made amounting to more than 31,000 Euros.
Canarian Legal Alliance is representing over 500 British clients in claims against Silverpoint / Resort Properties. Many of these claims are in regard to the misselling of the timeshare product as an “Investment”, whereby Silverpoint sold packs of weeks with the promise they will sell those weeks on behalf of the client.
With the so-called investment packs, clients were promised a return of at least 15% on their investment, none of these have ever materialised and many people have lost substantial amounts. Not only the initial investment but on subsequent upgrades, these were sold as better investments, as the original purchases were not of the best quality. These also include the payment of large amounts in annual maintenance costs.
This is not the first ruling achieved by Canarian Legal Alliance on behalf of British Timeshare owners, others have included the taking of deposits or any payment within the cooling off period. The banning of perpetuity contracts, floating weeks and point systems, this not only protects British consumers, but allows more British timeshare owners to receive justice in Spain.
The latest news from the Supreme Court:
It was announced yesterday 19 January 2017 that the Supreme Court has reached another verdict against Silverpoint for another client of Canarian Legal Alliance.
This verdict is in relation to the length of the contract being over 50 year, known as perpetuity, contrary to Law 42/98 of the Spanish civil code.
This is good news for many British timeshare owners who purchased in Spain, they now have a way out of their contracts and releasing them from the ever rising maintenance fees.
The following link is for the Supreme Court Announcement:
Link to El Diario article published 18 January 2017:
http://m.eldiario.es/canariasahora/tribunales/Supremo-condena-empresa-variante-timesharing_0_602990754.html
The Client has also agreed to being contacted if required. Also for further information on this and other Supreme Court rulings please contact Canarian Legal Alliance:
Another twist in this tale is the press release by Silverpoint, in this they do not agree with the decision. They also believe it will be overturned at a higher court, the question is what higher court as the Supreme Court is the highest in Spain.
According to Silverpoint they have begun working on an appeal to the Spanish Constitutional Court, but from our sources this is unlikely as the matter is not a constitutional one. They also claim they will raise the issue with the Court of Justice of the European Union, we say good luck to them.
As CLA stated in their press release they have over 500 clients with cases against Silverpoint, so this is welcome news for them. Inside Timeshare will follow this and keep you posted on the latest events.
The Northern Echo has already picked up on this case and this can be seen on the following link:
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