Dear All
Our preliminary hearing was set up for the 18th November at 10,00 a.m. at the Court number 11 in Murcia
The object of the hearing was to try reaching an agreement between the parties and that the Judge resolves any queries regarding procedure etc which may have been alleged by the defendants.
If there was no agreement, the case will continue and both parties will have to propose and practise the proofs they lay their petitions on. The Judge would set up a date for the definitive hearing prior to the granting of the sentence.
The results were as we expected. The defendants did not offer any possibility of agreement so the case goes on.
Our barrister has replied to a few exceptions raised by the other parties (formalities about procedure) which will be resolved by the Judge when granting the verdict. In particular, Caja Castilla said that they should have not been called to this case. This is a very poor argument and our barrister is not too worried about it.
Masdevallia solicitor has asked several persons to be called to testify about the facts. In particular, they have called the representative of Masdevallia and some of the employers. They have also requested our presence to declare. Note that this is just a delay tactic. They think that if the Town Hall by any chance grants the certificates of Habitation before the sentence, the Judge will not give a condemnatory verdict against them. As you can see, they are trying to mix as many things as possible but again we are confident the right is on our side.
Anyhow, unless there is any change, we will have to attend the final hearing which has been set up on 16th March 2009
Finally, our barrister had the opportunity to chat with Caja Castilla solicitor and advised him that they were preparing 4 more cases against the bank so they should have a serious thought to a possible agreement. Let’s hope that this warning works
AS you can imagine we are very disappointed with this delay in obtaining our monies and havenot heard of any settlement in or out of court
Phil and Caroline