The decision came unexpectedly: shortly after the Judge ruled in favour our client, a British citizen, SGR (Sociedad de Garantia Reciproca), defendants, filed a motion to appeal hoping to get the decision reversed and requested that enforcement of the ruling was stayed pending the Appeal Court decision, not before lodging the amount of the deposit with the Courts’ bank.
But the Judge of the Court of First Instance either did not get the petition of stay on time or simply ignored it and, unexpectedly, handed over the payment order written out to BBVA bank to us so that we could collect the payment. Because under Spanish law, you are able to enforce execution of a ruling without having to wait for the appeal decision, nor provide a security in case the decision was reversed, and in this case the defendants SGR argued that if our client received the funds and took them to the United Kingdom, in the event of she losing the case on appeal, it would be difficult or impossible to get the payment back.
The case continues…
Does this set a precident for others to follow the same path? Also, is BBVA liable, given that they continued to receive deposits knowing that there were no Bank Guarantees being issued, and more importantly they didn’t ring fence the monies.
Regards,
Steve Reddy.
Hello Stephen,
This is not strictly speaking a precedent as it is a Court of First Instance ruling but represents the opinion of Judge that is likely, within the same judicial district and among the Judges of the area, to be the prevailing stream of thought in respect to the matter. It was clear that SGR was guaranteeing the transaction.
Stephen, we are not acquainted with the role of BBVA in this development. However, this is a frequently asked question that we come across and we are inclined to think that the BANK, being a crucial element of the real estate transaction and knowing that these monies were advance payments by consumers, has a liability.As far as we know, only one action has been succesful, in Madrid, and the particular case involves a property buyer that was lent the money, by a bank, to buy the property. The developer was itself client of the same bank.