As Spanish timeshare victims secure larger compensation awards, M1 Legal continues to break records
Spanish judges increasingly side with timeshare consumers
At Tenerife’s Arona Court Number Three, judges rotate regularly. Recent decisions suggest a growing emphasis on consumer rights, which is encouraging for timeshare victims pursuing claims.
In one example, a judge ruled that “CLC World (CLC) acted in bad faith by alleging that the vendor agency was on behalf of another company”.
This refers to a familiar tactic used by some timeshare resorts: attempting to shift responsibility between connected companies. In this case, the judge did not accept the argument.
In another ruling, a judge stated that where a company has a presence in Spain — even just an office — it can be sued if it breaks the law.
Further decisions also favoured consumers, including findings relating to timeshare contracts and their often abusive nature.
Overall, according to the head of M1 Legal, Fernando Sansegundo, “Things are going our way.”
M1 Legal breaks weekly record for timeshare awards
Sansegundo also highlighted that the team is “regularly breaking records in terms of how much money we win in court for our clients.”
The previous record for weekly awards (£295,000) was set in March 2022.
That record has now been beaten, with a new weekly high of £310,480 — a figure Sansegundo expects will be surpassed again soon.
This record week’s awards were shared between 14 claimants, averaging £22,177 per claim. In addition, they no longer have to pay their timeshare memberships, reducing their ongoing costs as well.
May becomes a record month for timeshare compensation
Sansegundo says that half a million Euros in compensation awards used to be viewed as an exceptional monthly result. “Nowadays,” however, “that figure is regularly achieved. In May this year (at time of going to press, with two working days left in the month) we have already reached £703,470.”
This total was shared by over 30 claimants, with 20 successful cases against CLC and a further nine against Anfi.
There were also several standout individual awards, including the largest win of the month against CLC.
In that case, an “eye-watering £69,437” was awarded to the client. Although CLC attempted to appeal, M1 had the decision overturned at the Court of Appeal.
As Sansegundo explains, “When timeshare resorts appeal like this, it is only ever a delay. Our success rate is 98.6% and that 1.4% we did lose was in the early days, when the process was not as established as it is today.”
Another substantial award went to a former Silverpoint owner, who received £50,393. In this case, the judge ruled in the claimant’s favour due to missing or inadequate information in the contract.
This commonly relates to arrangements such as floating time or points-based membership. While both have been illegal for over two decades, companies continued to profit from consumers by knowingly breaching the law. These rulings show that those practices are now being challenged — and punished — through the Spanish courts.
Sansegundo also highlighted £43,609 awarded against Paradise Resorts.
“It is a significant amount of money for the claimant of course. But also, it establishes culpability for yet another CLC entity,” he said. “CLC has a complex corporate structure which they try to use to avoid their financial responsibilities. Luckily for their victims, judges are just not accepting that a company as wealthy as CLC is unable to meet legally awarded compensation payments to former owners.”
For more advice on making a timeshare claim, or to find out about working with M1 Legal, get in touch with Timeshare Advice Centre for a no-obligation assessment.
