Clients affected at the Almanzora Country Club Development (Huma Mediterraneo), get the money paid back from Banco Popular ( No bank guarantees).

I can confirm the post by White Baos who started this thread. We received our money back less the fees but as the bank is appealing it's best for us not to touch the money yet. The banks appeal isn't until Febrary which is longer than we were expecting but at least we're moving in the right direction. If the bank lose the appeal then we will receive back the expenses and also get some interest.

White Baos have been excellent in handling our case and I would recommend them if anyone has no BG

Gazza

I don't think my solicitor has let me down. I find it unbelievable that the court system in Spain is so painfully slow and arbitrary.  My solicitor first took action against our developer. Following a meeting with them it transpired that they were broke.  No point following that route. I found out that the law says the banks are responsible for the guarantee and for ensuring the money paid into the builders account should only be used for building purposes. Then the Finca Parc group won their judgement and we were off again chasing the bank for our money back.

The court gave a procedimiento number in May but no date. We are still awaiting a date for the hearing and have been told to expect a date in 2016.  Following that, if we win, we will have to wait even longer for the money to be really ours as the bank will appeal. 

I would love for the court to be quicker. What if there were other clients who also paid their deposits into the same account as the White Baos clients and have documentary evidence of the same? Surely these clients' cases could be heard quicker as the arguments and outcome should be exactly the same as the WB case.  Less paperwork all round and everyone is happy and the courts are not clogged up with lots of identical claims.

I would be interested if WB or LA have any thoughts on this.

Finally, thanks to Lucas Asociados for confirming in his post that the man from del Monte said Yes! 😀

Hi, gazza,

I'm happy you are in the right way to recover your money.

Hi, LostMySensaHuma,

I understand what you mean, when you say further cases "could be heard quicker as the arguments and outcome should be exactly the same as the WB case". 

I am familiar to anglosaxon legal system and know how important precedents are, and that the existence of them makes new cases on the same facts run faster (exists, even, in some cases, a possibility of "adhesion" to an existing ruling). This would come out, as you say, in "Less paperwork all round and everyone is happy and the courts are not clogged up with lots of identical claims".

Believe we'd be delighted with that, as in most cases we don't get our fees until the cases are finished, and a case in the shelves does produce not much fees.

Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in Spanish legal system. Each case is heard individually and precedents just are considered so if there's a minimum of 2 precedents issued by the Supreme Court. And even that, still not compulsory for other Courts, which can go against precedents attending to particular circumstances of the case heard by them.

So, my thought and desire is that precedents should be considered as in the anglosaxon systems. Imagine all claimants of Almanzora Country Club could place an adhesion to a yet existing ruling stating liabilty of a bank. It sounds nice. But my eyes won't see that in Spanish legal system. 

Thank You Everyone for your thoughts I feel very confused about the whole thing ACC was a big mistake not sure if its worth trying to get deposit back as I dont know who I can trust and if I did go ahead would I be paying unreal costs.

Hi, doodle,

My opinion is that it's worth to claim your money back.

Who you can trust? If you check this forum you'll find several Firms being succesful in claiming deposits back form banks (Lucas&Asociados -ourselves-, Abolex, Whiste Baos, GM, Costa Luz, etc.). And you'll also find buyers that can witness this success (not just chit-chat). So, any of those Firms.

Should you be interested in asking us, please send me PM 

Its great that people are winning cases in the courts, however, it doesn't mean that they are getting their money back, the banks are fighting all the way even though they know they are wrong! I was fortunate in that I had a BG and did get most of my money back, I am still around £12K out of pocket due to lost deposit, lost interest and solicitors fees so I guess I am better off than many on this forum. I do wish everyone on here the best of luck in getting their money back but I can only reiterate that I have very little confidence in the Spanish legal system, apologies for not replying earlier, I've been on holiday ........................................... to Turkey, had a great time!!!!! 

Hi Thug

We have got our money back but the bank are appealing so there is a chance we may have to pay it back if they win their appeal - if they can find me :)

Gazza, they certainly wouldn't find me!!!!! It proves the point though, the banks are totally wrong but still won't hold their hands up and are fighting it all the way. Have you recieved a total refund, deposit money, interest, solicitors fees etc or will you still be out of pocket??  I spent just over £2000 in solicitors fees to get mt BG money refunded which is disgraceful.

I can't understand why the banks are appealing, was pleased they were forced to pay before the appeal though.

Yes we are out of pocket at the moment as the costs were taken out of the money. If the bank lose the appeal then we should get the costs back plus interest so fingers crossed. The appeal is in February

Hi, thug,

As gazza has explained, the First Instance ruling is executable for deposit and interests. If the bank wins the appeal or goes before the Supreme Court and wins, then they would be able to claim the money back. But as this would imply to execute under UK Law and the assistance of British Firms is quite expensive for them, I'm not sure they'd go after foreign clients.

In any case, if after the First Instance Court ruling you execute it provisionally, get back deposit+interests and pay legal costs in advance (that you'd recover if the bank's appeal is rejected), you may be, until the appeal has finished, out of pocket in the total balance, but really much better than before placing the lawsuit against the bank.

Gazza, Have you asked your legal team for clarification on what grounds the Bank are appealing?

No I haven't asked them for that.

Maybe they could inform us on here as it was our solicitors that started this thread

The bank are probably appealing on the grounds that they dont want to pay the money back!!!!!!!

They know the Spanish legal system is so slow that you may die of old age before it gets sorted!!

It would be useful to have the details of these Bank appeals, if only to see if there is a legal pattern occurring that perhaps can be better circumvented by the legal teams given more recent case law, or if the Banks are appealing purely as a means of delay, in full knowledge that they will lose the appeal but in that process compromise the claimant via a poor judgement in relation to enforcement of interest and costs.

If there was more effective monitoring of these appeals and rulings then it might act towards ensuring greater judicial consistency for awarding interest and costs.

Banks have little disincentive to appeal, if at the end of the day they do not consistently have to pay interest and costs during the interim lengthy periods of litigation.

I agree.  Have a look at El blog de Maria.  Maria de Castro is a lawyer who writes on this site and she regularly shares information about law 57/68 cases.  http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz.aspx 

also, the Spanish legal system publishes judgements online (http://www.poderjudicial.es/search/indexg.jsp) but it is not easy to find every case.and you need to know Spanish to get the most from it.

Here are 2 appeals Lost by Banco Popular this year concerning Huma Mediterraneo (case numbers not links to web pages)

SAP, Civil del 28 de Mayo del 2015 (ROJ: SAPMU 1221/2015 - ECLI:ES:APMU:2015:1221)

SAP, Civil del 09 de Julio del 2015 (ROJ: SAPMU 1595/2015 - ECLI:ES:APMU:2015:1595)

Mmmmm good to know the banks have lost two cases this year, so at that rate, it'll only take about 350 years to clear the backlog....................

Harsh but fair 

It seems a terrible waste of court time hearing each individual case. What will it take to change the system? I'll ask Jeremy Corbyn.

The banks appealing for more time!!,  judge should throw appeal out of court, the whole system is wrong

yet again we get no justice, huma played for time untill it was too late,  now the courts are letting banks do the same thing ...win case...so bank appeals.......loose appeal......make new appeal...on.on.on....

Dear all,  my name is Carlos Baos, I am the Spanish Lawyer at White Baos dealing with the court cases against HUMA and Huma’s banks, like Banco Popular, CAM ( now Sabadell), etc.

Following your comments, we understand that we should give our opinion, in case we can help some people.

It is true that the Legal System in Spain is slow,  and it is impossible for any honest and professional lawyer to give a guarantee 100% of winning a court case against the Banks who hold the special bank accounts of HUMA in ACC.

We understand the people who do not believe in the legal system, judges, lawyers, etc., and they think that it is not worthy to claim.

Unfortunately, the banks know this and try to make people think this way, because being like this, many affected consumers will not claim because they are afraid to lose, and they are advised that they will end paying huge amount of money in legal fees, they can not trust the system, that the lawyers only want their money and they do not care about if they win and get the money back or not, etc.

Knowing the banks that they will only need to pay for the consumers who claim and win, the banks prefer to fight in court, because they know that the majority of the affected consumers will not go that far and will never take a legal action against them.

When the banks delay court cases and appeal, they know that if they lose, it will cost them more money in legal fees, legal interests, ( from when the money was paid until when the money is paid back), but still is worthy for the banks, as they know that this will make many people to do not go in court, being not prepare for a potential long legal fight.

But, there are also quite positive things in these court cases, as it is also true that the vast majority of courts are ruling against banks, in first instance and also in appeal, as the Provincial Court of Murcia ( Audiencia Provincial) who has already ruled against Huma’s banks.

Also, we understand, that the consumers legal position is even stronger now, after the judgment of 16 January 2015 (No. of Appeal: 2336/2013), of the Spanish Supreme Court, confirming the rights of the consumers to claim against the banks, if these banks did not make sure when they opened the special bank accounts to receive deposits and money for properties off plan, that the bank guarantees or insurance policies to cover this money were in place.

Also, I think that it is positive for the affected consumers, that some lawyers, like our law firm but also many others, try to help them to fight for their rights, even offering a no win no fees deal, so if the clients do not win and get paid, they do not need to pay any legal fees to their lawyers.

Our experience in claims against Almanzora Country Club banks at the moment has been slow but really positive, as all court orders has been granted in favor of our clients at ACC, they have already their money back ( in a provisional execution) and we are waiting the appeal court to make a decision in some months. It is not guarantee 100% that the final result will be in our favor, but at the moment it could not be better.

In any case, we understand and respect every opinion, but the facts are, wining is not guarantee and if finally the cases are lost, claimants will not need to pay our legal fees but will need to pay the other party legal fees.

The result up to now,  in court cases against Huma’s banks have been really positive for people who lost their money not having a bank guarantees, being asked the banks by the courts to pay the money back, plus interests, plus the legal fees and costs. The court cases are on appeal, that should be decided about the first trimester of next year.

In any case, we wish all the affected buyers and all the lawyers who are trying to help, all the best