To Sue - or NOT to Sue

Following meetings with Pere Pineda, the Jávea Lawyer, and his colleagues from Valencia, it was decided to litigate and - as the meetings were in Spanish - I was under the impression they were acting on a 'No win - No fee' basis, but on a subsequent meeting discovered our 'proportionate' share of the 'up-front' costs of 32,000 €uros, would be 10,600 €uros. 7 of the other claimants were being asked for sums of 2,500 €uros or less, one couple paying only 1,600 €euros. None-the-less, in June 2010 we visited the Jávea Notaria and signed the REQUERIMIENTO, against Banco Callego and BNP Paribas.

Subsequently we were advised that once the REQUERIMIENTO was issued, BNP Paribas would have the option of FREEZING the 300,000 €uros we still had with them, AND cease paying the twice-yearly interest. Without the interest - or our money that should all have been repaid in September 2009 - we had no income and would not survive. So, with some regret, we withdrew from the litigation, and the other Victims signed an amended REQUERIMIENTO on 9th May 2011.

Even though Don Jose Andrés Fernandéz, in the BNP Paribas Group Attention to Clients Department claimed there was a statutory (2 year) time limit, the Court in Denia seemed unaware of that limitation, and convened an exploratory hearing in November 2011, then set a date for Oral Evidence on 21st February 2012. At the November exploratory hearing )to decide if there was 'a case to answer' the Lawyer for BNP Paribas asked the Judge to have Ann, Carmen and myself ejected from the room, on the grounds that we were not involved, but the Judge refused - admonishing the Lawyer - and telling him that court hearings in Spain were open to public scrutiny, and this case did not meet the requirements for exclusion.