As you may be aware Club la Costa (CLC) placed a number of sales related companies into administration including Club la Costa (UK) PLC Sucursal España. News has reached us the administrator appointed by the Spanish courts has instigated a court case which was heard in the Mercantile Court no. 2 in Malaga creating two orders dated 23-07-2021 and 26-07-2021 (Claims within the insolvency proceeding no. 398/2021 and no. 388/2021), where the administration proceedings of Club La Costa are being heard.
These hearings simply confirmed that the Mercantile Court felt that it had no jurisdiction to hear cases against CLC, its rational is that Club la Costa (UK) PLC Sucursal España is merely a branch office of the UK company Club la Costa (UK) PLC and as such any proceedings for the selling of illegal contracts must be handled by the UK Administrator. CLC contracts stated that any dispute would be handled in accordance with UK law as such the Mercantile Court asserted it had a limit of responsibility.
What does this mean?
Not a lot actually. In December 2020, liquidation procedures were also initiated for a number of Spanish companies within the CLC group and subsequently the management of these companies was passed into the hands of an administrator in Spain appointed by the Spanish Mercantile Court.
Only from the time the companies entered administration were all new cases against Club La Costa (UK) PLC and CLC Sucursal España became the responsibility of the administration body in the UK. All previous cases against these companies were correctly presented and dealt with in the Spanish Civil Courts. The ruling from the Mercantile Court simply confirms this position being that all new cases should not be submitted to the Spanish Mercantile Court but rather filed in the UK. The latest ruling from the Mercantile Court does not affect in any way any previous judgements that have been made by Spanish Civil Courts or any ongoing proceedings in the civil court against CLC companies.
It must be pointed out that the leading claims companies acting on behalf of CLC claimants including M1 Legal, CLA and JLCA & AS have made substantial legal efforts over the past few months to ensure their claimants are acknowledged as majority creditors in the UK administration proceedings, this has resulted in the appointment of a new creditor appointed administrator (FRP) to replace the court appointed administrator (BDO).
Am I affected?
Put simply, if you have already been represented in court and have received a judgement in your favour or your case is proceeding through the Spanish civil courts then there is no effect. Your lawyers will have, or will be presenting the full facts to UK administrators. Until such time as the liquidation procedure is concluded then claims may still be presented for those who have been wronged by CLC.
The Spanish courts can no longer accept cases but from our understanding the UK Administrator (FRP) are prepared to accept cases submitted by Spanish lawyers upon a suitable viability report.
Finally
The newsletter sent by CLC is at best smoke and mirrors and at worse a deliberate attempt to stave off potential claimants and scare existing claimants. The whole set of steps taken by CLC have been orchestrated to avoid paying claims rightfully awarded by the Spanish civil courts. In our opinion the statement from both the Spanish administrator, CLC and the Mercantile Court will have no effect on the final outcome.
If you are a current claimant then rest assured your legal representatives are expending maximum effort of your behalf to bring a satisfactory conclusion to this matter. If you feel you have been wronged then you need to act swiftly. Once the UK administrator has concluded all investigations and the companies concerned are finally wound up then all further opportunity will be lost. Until then, all remains the same with no change.
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