Works suspension claim dismissed, brought against Centro Canalejas Madrid

December 17, 2015

First Instance Court No. 54 in Madrid has dismissed the works suspension claim brought by R&A Palace Gestión against Centro Canalejas Madrid, the Villar Mir Group, Inmobiliaria Espacio, OHL and the City Council of Madrid. The judgment, which is subject to appeal, has ruled as follows:

  • Final lifting of the works suspension ordered in a decision dated 9 October 2015, consequently allowing OHL to recover a guarantee of approximately 163,000 euros.
  • The defendants are released from R&A Palace’s petition to suspend the works, claiming ownership rights.
  • R&A Palace is ordered to pay all procedural costs, expressly declaring its recklessness.

Last 6 October 2015, R&A Palace Gestión brought oral proceedings to suspend a new works project against Centro Canalejas Madrid, the Villar Mir Group, Inmobiliaria Espacio, OHL and the City Council of Madrid, requesting a suspension of the works in the Canalejas complex. The hearing was held in December 2015, which was attended by all the parties.

Ownership rights

In its claim of 6 October, R&A Palace Gestión claimed that it held expectations of ownership rights, but the judgment indicates that “it neither holds the ownership nor any other in rem right, nor any personal right granting it any type of possession over the property in question, where works are being executed that it now intends to halt […], nor is it expected to hold any such right in the future”. Likewise, the judgment points out that “The current position held by R&A Palace Gestión over the buildings where the works are being executed consequently does not differ from the position that may be held by any other citizen, as a legal or natural person” […]. “Ultimately, the plaintiff R&A Palace Gestión lacks any standing whatsoever to file these summary proceedings to suspend a new works project”.

Furthermore, as regards R&A Palace Gestión’s conduct, the judgment provides that “The bringing of this action is not only unfounded but also abusive”. […] “These summary proceedings have been used by R&A Palace Gestión in bad faith or, at the very least, in a grossly and inexcusably negligent manner, equivalent to bad faith, for purposes other than those foreseen by law”.

In this regard we should recall, as explained by the judgment, that “R&A Palace Gestión had already addressed the contentious-administrative courts with the same intentions,which dismissed its claim to halt the works; it then decided to bring this claim before the civil courts, consequently using inadequate procedural channels”.