Timeshare Resort La Pinta Beach Ordered to Pay British Couple over €300,000
WHAT is believed to be the biggest upheld compensation claim in European timeshare history; which regards a dispute over a Tenerife timeshare; La Pinta Beach Club, is now just one step away from achieving a very lucrative outcome for British couple Mr & Mrs Sewell-Rutter from Southampton.
In September 2018, lawyers at M1 legal received confirmation of a favourable ruling at the first court of instance totalling €365,000 Euros against La Pinta beach Club in Tenerife.
The couple had several contracts purchased over the years and the evidence revealed that they were all connected with the same company. The contracts were also in perpetuity i.e. over 50 years.
Initial enquiries with the couple, Mr & Mrs Sewell-Rutter established the facts regarding their ownership, here’s what they had to say:
“We have had timeshare weeks with La Pinta Beach Club for over 10 years and every year we went there, we were approached by the re-sales department, pressuring us to buy additional timeshares which they promised to sell at a profit. They put so much pressure on us each time to make us part with our money, that we felt quite exhausted and gave in. As a result we lost most of our savings, having to remortgage our house and take out a bank loan. In the end we had lost a considerable amount of money, we didn’t know where to turn until we found M1legal”.
At last we had found a company which dealt with us in an understanding and professional way. It took some time, but finally our case went to court in Tenerife and a few months later we were told we have won our case. We can’t thank M1legal enough for their efforts. They have been brilliant throughout, and now we will get our money back. We are so delighted and will recommend anyone who has lost money as a result of timeshare scams to get in touch with M1legal.”
M1 LEGAL provides legal services to support clients of European Consumer Claims (ECC) who have been subject to mis-selling and subsequent breach of statutory duties by resorts in relation to holiday ownership products and services sold. These include floating week timeshares; points based timeshare products; holiday clubs and fractional ownerships.
Mr & Mrs Sewell-Rutters celebrating their victory
Since then, La Pinta appealed against the judgement and in July of this year, a Spanish High Court considered the appeal and issued a final judgement awarding the Sewell-Rutters the sum of €312,000 Euros. There is no further right to appeal and M1 Legal are now applying to the court for funds to be released.
The M1 Legal Team responsible for this outstanding award
Here at the TCA we are always happy to hear and share positive news updates like this, where timeshare owners succeed with achieving positive judgements against the timeshare resorts who pulled one over them in the first place. Well Done to the Sewell-Rutter´s and M1 Legal!
It doesn’t stop there!
At the time of going to press we are able to publish an update results which only cover the last week! M1 Legal secured 4 awards totalling £78,320, below is more of an insight into each case.
- Club La Costa Sucursal – The nullity of this case was determined by the lack of information regarding the property. The judge declared nullity also of the ancillary contracts, he did not say loan but was referring to it. £9,924 awarded.
- Club la Costa Sucursal – This was a case where the resort appealed the initial decision – An appeal was presented in the court of appeal in Malaga, the judge again ruled in our favour, and this time we won the costs. £26,611 awarded.
- Club la Costa Paradise Trading – The nullity of this case was determined by the lack of property information, awarded with full costs. £13,027 awarded.
- Club la Costa Paradise Trading – Again the nullity of this case was determined by the lack of property information, awarded with full costs. £28,757 awarded.
JURISDICTION
This week M1 secured another 8 Jurisdiction victories, 7 against CLC Sucursal and 1 against CLC Paradise Trading. The defence argued that the cases should not be heard in Spain however, the judge overruled they can. All cases will now have a hearing date arranged in due course and we also have been awarded costs.
More and more cases are being won each week, if you own a Spanish timeshare and you purchased after 5th January 1999 it is possible that you may have an illegal contract under Spanish law. The areas in question that breach the law may be found in our article below:
Timeshare contract law is quite complex so if you are in any doubt about your ownership simply get in touch with us and we will be delighted to assist. Not all contracts are illegal but for those that are, substantial compensation may be achievable.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk