Legal tip 1411.Case won in the Provincial Appeal Court against CAIXABANK for an off-plan property from Pastor Selected Villas International at Los Altos de la Pedrera
Thursday, November 17, 2016 @ 1:14 PM
Case won in the Provincial Appeal Court against CAIXABANK for an off-plan property from Pastor Selected Villas International at Los Altos de la Pedrera
Our clients were extremely pleased to hear recently that we had won their LEY 57/1968 Bank Action case against Caixabank in the Provincial Appeal Court.
No Individual Guarantee
They did not receive an individual Guarantee from the developer, Pastor Selected Villas International S.L. or from the Bank to which their off-plan deposit was paid, CAIXABANK (formerly LA CAIXA).
First Instance Court Sentence
The First Instance Court found Caixabank guilty according to its obligations under Article 1.2 of LEY 57/1968 and sentenced the Bank to refund the full amount of the off-plan deposit plus legal interest from the date the buyers paid to the developer’s account. Legal costs of the First Instance procedure were not imposed on the Bank due to the fact that the Judge was of the opinion there was conflicting jurisprudence regarding banks liabilities according to LEY 57/1968 at the time the Lawsuit was submitted.
The Appeal
Caixabank filed an Appeal against the First Instance Sentence. The Provincial Appeal Court of Alicante dismissed the Bank’s Appeal and fully confirmed the First Instance Sentence. Costs of the Appeal were imposed on Caixabank.
The Appeal Court Magistrates based its decision to dismiss the Caixabank Appeal mainly upon the Supreme Court Sentences dated 29 June 2016, 22 April 2016, 9 March 2016, 23 September 2015 & 21 December 2015.
Important Statement from the Appeal Court Magistrates
“It is proven that the Bank was aware of the housing development, opened an account for the developer and granted a mortgage loan for the development. As soon as the amounts are paid by buyers to the bank account of the developer, whether or not the account is a Special Account the liability for the corresponding Guarantee will be established for the total amount paid by the buyers into the developers account opened at that Bank.
Thus the obligation of the appellant to reimburse the amounts entered by the plaintiff is evident and the appeal must be dismissed”
Possible Supreme Court Appeal
CAIXABANK has 20 working days from the date of notification of the Sentence, which was 10 November 2016, to comply with the Sentence or to file a Cassation Appeal to the Supreme Court.
Although Appeals must be submitted strictly within a 20 working day deadline, we do not normally receive notification of an Appeal or of a firm sentence from the Court until a few weeks after the deadline due to the workload of the Court.
If a Cassation Appeal to the Supreme Court is filed by the Bank it will be necessary for us to file an Opposition to the Appeal on behalf of our client.
