Lucas&Asociados prepares class action against banks for lack of BGs in ACC

I'd like to invite anyone thinking of suing the banks that received their moneys for ACC without giving them BGs to join our class action.

We have some clients that have instructed us to go against the banks they paid the money to. We've been longly experienced and really succesful in this kind of actions, and we find is the best way to recover the moneys paid for the houses if you don't have a BG.

We don't say "no win no fee". Why? Well, we are not merchants, we are a serious Firm and saying "no win no fee", for us, is not being clear.

First, because there are expenses intended in any legal action that have to be paid, such as Procurador's fees (300-500 €/claimant) and the litigation tax (300 €+0'1% of the amount claimed per claimant). Using a class action we can make some of this expenses lower.

And also, because we don't want our honesty, integrity and dedication to be under any suspect. If we work for no money, paying any expenses, you could think we won't make our best, or we will try to save money somehow. 

Nevertheless, we can offer really reasonable and affordable conditions, in which our fees will be scaled from the minimum to cover our expenses if we don't win, and the maximum if we win and the opposite has to pay us, with reduced fees if we win but the one to pay our fees is the client, not the bank.

We've not been one of the "big ones" on conveyancing. But we are really skilled in litigation.

And we know the bigger the group for the class action is, the better for all our clients.

has anyone ever recived money ,  from the cases you have won or do you win and the courts do nothing to force repayments...........give exact details so we can check with the buyer who had cash back......

As I've mentioned in other threads where you participate, once the judgment states the Bank has to pay, you can ask the execution of that judgment.

We can find two scenarios:

1) The bank appeals: Once the bank appeal, you can execute provisionally the judgment. The only thing is the Court will remain you that, if you lose the appeal, you have to give money back, plus legal interests.

2) The bank doesn't appeal: The ban has +/-30 days to pay voluntarilly. If not, you can execute the judgment, and this carries also higher expenses for the bank.

We've had cases where the clients got their money back. The bank paid voluntarily to avoid execution fees. 

What the solicitors don't understand is that people are afraid to pay any more money up front, we have spent far more than we should have already to get what is rightfully ours. The comments made about us thinking you '' won't make your best''  if you don't take any money up front is nonsense,  If you don't take any money up front I would know that you would be trying extra hard otherwise you wouldn't get paid!  Most of us are now at the stage that unless you can give us some guarantees we don't want to throw any more money at this seemingly endless fight.

First of all, we never spoke of paying money up front. We just said we don't work on a "no win no fees" basis, and explained why. The only money to be paid up front is expenses, not our fees. Actually, we have in Spain a litigation tax that has to be paid to the Treasure before the lawsuit is accepted.

We, of course, know and assume that you are afraid and that there have been solicitors that have not been as serious and honest as they should.

But you must also understand that our Firm doesn't have to pay others' bad practices. And you must respect our woriking basis.

Let me ask you something: have you ever gone to the dentist and say "I won't pay if I'm not satisfied". Have you ever gone to the doctor's for a surgery and say "Hey, doc, no cure, no fees!". Honestly, I don't think so. So, why are solcitors suposed to be working on a "no win no fees" basis? And some do. 

On the other hand, imagine I take my car to a garage to get it fixed and I convey with the mechanic that I will just pay if they fix it right. At the same time, other guy leaves his car and signs a compromise to pay the fixing. Honestly, I'd be sure that the first car to be fixed will not be mine.

Regardless all that, I understand your reasons, and as this is a matter of confidence, you can choose whoever makes you feel more confident. But, believe me, no one can give you guarantees in Law matters, and if they do, they're not being absolutely frank. Law is not mathematics. We can say is mostly sure you get your money back, but we can't guarantee 100%.

On the other hand, we can work with no money paid upfront for our fees, but we can't work for free and, at the same time, put money from our pockets to cover expenses. That would be, somehow, "investing" in your case. And, frankly, if you want me to "invest" in your case, you must offer more than my fees. This is how solicitors work in USA, for example. They cover expenses, but their fees, instead of being round 9% are 40-50%. And that's not how we work.

Anyway, we respect your opinion, and you are free to choose the Firm you want, but, please, respect our position, which is much more than sensible and fair.

The idea of the class action is to get a group of people together and this then allows for the costs to tge lwayers ti be dramatically reduced as they have already done the ground work and this should be refkected in the fees that they charge, but it never is

Buyers have another option which is ti wait till the resuts of this class action and then when somebody actually wins the case and actually gets money back from the banks use this on the basis of setiing a legal precident

If a lawyer is confident of success as it is ofetn claimed by orgainsations then they should offer a no win no fee service which is subjevt to a much higher percentage cost if they win, I am certian that people would accept this but if course thus is never offered so the lawyers are always in a win win situation, regradless of the result

What I would expect from adentist, garage etc is a quote and the ability to sue the supplier for their claims or bad workmanship, in Spain this doesn't exist for Spanish Lawyers and even when they claim that they have won a case they often make excuses why they cannot provide refrerences for people that have won money back

It reaches the point wher you either say yes we will get your money back, based on the facts,  or we cannot, simple

In a no win no fee world in the states the lawyers gamble wuth their money for a much better return, some they win, some they loose but at least it doesn't cost the client to learn

I agree with Gales comments

Of course, when we think of a class action is, as we said, because is better for the claimants. One of the reasons is that the costs are lower.

Appart from that, we think you havent read our main post, where we say that "we can offer really reasonable and affordable conditions, in which our fees will be scaled from the minimum to cover our expenses if we don't win, and the maximum if we win and the opposite has to pay us, with reduced fees if we win but the one to pay our fees is the client, not the bank.".

We work for our clients. We don't gamble with their cases.

And the normal thing in a professional relationship, as we understand it, is that the client covers the expenses needed.

If we were not sure to recover the money, we wouldn't prepare any action. If we get this step is because we've studied the matter and think this is the right way and that we'll be succesful before Courts defending these actions. On top, we can add that this wouldn't be our first case. We've won some cases against banks yet. 

But we are extremely careful with our clients interests, money and hopes. So, we never we never do our work carelessly, we never take our clients into risky actions, we never permit our clients to be misinformed and we never promise what we can't promise. And Law is not Maths.

Solciitors are not different to dentists or doctors. You may ask other people, and you'll get references from one and other. And, if they don't do their work correctly, you can sue them and ask their insurance for an indemnity.

A professional is always paid for doing his/her work properly and do their best, not for a result. 

In any case, as said before, you can choose whoever you want, and if you prefer a "No win no fee" offer, there's plenty.

My advice remains let the people that are paying for this action either suceed or fail and then that will set the legal precendence, rather than adding to your fees with more people, often the real success is not unfortunatley the first judgement but the very expensive appeals process, expensive for the people claiming, not the lawyers

I am sure that if you win you will then market that fact on this forum

Unfortunately there is an ever growing number of what I would call ambulance chasers now around who quite honestly are haooy to chase fees for this type of work and it is easy to throw good miney after bad

You still have failed to prove success to anybody on this forum just continued to market yor services and unfortunatley the lawyers always get paid under this system, regardless of the result

You offend us if you suggest we are "ambulance chasers". Leave that for people with big advertisings and "no win no fees".

We are honest and we just explain our way of working and reasons. If you don't like them, you can go to any of the many Firms that exist. 

We are a serious Firm founded in 2000, and we've never lived on these matters of real estate. Tha biggest part of our business is Corporate and Insolvency Law and Litigation.

And, believe me, we are not marketing our services. If we wished so, we would say "No win no fees". We just invited people to join a class action, and as jackb suggested us to do a "no win no fees" offer, we just explained why we don't do it.

That's all. And now, people can join our class action or not. Come to our Firm, to another one or just wait for results. 

We are not "proving" you success. We dn't do things like that. If you want that, ask other Firms. Our success is part of our background. And if someone wants to know judgments, we can give them no of case, court and date.

But, honestly, I won't show you legal documents of other clients. It's forbidden (unless they authorise to).

We'd like you to believe us, but for some reason we see it nearly impossible. I'm sorry if other solicitors didn't treat you right or didn't advice you properly, but, please, attack those ones. Because you are making us appear as one of those Firms (many of them missing) and we are not. If you suggest we've been like them, that we are not honest, prove it, the same way you want us to prove success.

LUCAS I suggest you take a look at my profile and number of postings and the amount of independant advice that I have provide users of this forum with over many years through my businesses

Personally I have never been ripped off by a Spanish lawyer but I have many clients who have, who receive bad advice, who have paid thousands of Euro for NOTHING, good money after bad when honestly there was little hope of success

I have been to sites to do progress reports where nothing has been built and where developers have told people that they were almost finished including some that you are involved in

I have been featured on TV reports in the UK and US providing advice and stopped some people making the same mistakes

I have exposed boiler room operations who canvassed MRI customers making claims to recover money, based they claim on the success that they have had and guess what, when they were actually asked to prove their success their responses were often very similar to yours regarding client or court confidentially

We even had one company offering no win no fee but they required €4k to review your paperwork

Now if you can honestly say that in the way that you make your posts and take the time to make so many responses, that you arre not using this forum for advertising and marketing then you are fooling yourself, the people on this forum are not that stupid

Let's be honest the income from completions isn't there anymore so of course other revenue fees are required and if you were confident that you had a cast iron case your company would offer nio win no fee and charge a higher fee

If you adviced so many people, name just one that was ripped by our firm.

If I take time to answer you is because you are putting some suspects on the honesty of my Firm. Believe me I'd be much more happy not having to answer your accusations.

As I told you, we've never been one of those "completion offices". In fact, in those times, we wer considered "problematic" by developers and agents that only wanted things to run fast regardless the safety of the clients. We were extremely strict asking all requirements to be fulfilled, even BGs, and were "excluded" from the "system".

Some years after, through British Firms, like DWF, we are acting in Insolvencies (on of our expertises) and suing banks, both if there's BGs (to execute them) or not (to get them obblied to respond because of not checking the money was guaranteed).

In any case, we always treat each client individually, and listen to their circumstances. and we are open to make nearly any kind of agreement after a personal deal.

To make it clear I am not accusing any legal company of ripping people off what I am saying is that sometimes the promises that people are made simply are not true and under the terms that are laid down by legal providers then it is the legal providers that win because they will ALWAYS receive payment, if of the course the client pays all of the due money

What I am saying is that it isn't unreasonable to ask for refferences from any supplier, prior to using their services,sometimes the same lawyers, who acted for the purchaser and didn't protect the interests of the buyers by making sure that the legally al of the paperwork was in place, the BG's etc, now offer services to recover people deposits

Why didn't anybody go after the lawyers for malpractice , the lawyers who should have acted professionally, representing the interests of their clients by getting valid BG's, the fact is that the Spanish system to do this simply doesn't work and is too expensive to make a claim

I say agian that perhaps people should wait as it is claimed that cases have been won but wait till somebody actually gets money back from the banks, before joining any legal action, which will be less expensive once a precedence is set

Of course, we agree (and that's something we've always said) that many of the lawyers who acted for buyers didn't protect their interests properly. And know we see how the same that gave place to the problem offer their services to solve the problem. We assume the confidence they transmit is not much, but you can never say. Perhaps they have more clients than us for lawsuits against the banks.

Even, we believe that professionals acting negligently must respond. And we have no problems in suing negligent solicitors. In fact, we have actuallly one case against one solicitor that gave the bank back the BG. 

So, why do we prefer to sue banks to solicitors? Well, just a matter of solvency. We have two ways, and we choose the one we consider the fastest and safest for the client to get the money back.

All of the legal firms offer the same...."we can win your case against huma for xxthousand euros", yes you win the case but the courts dont enforce payment, you are down 1000s of euros lawers are up 1000s of euros,  next move "we can win case against banks" for even more euros, yes you win again, pay again, get nothing.lawers win 1000e..AGAIN......with out british customers half of them would have closed down.like the estate agents they were agents for.   no one has EVER had money back from huma/courts with out a BG.......if you are the first, please help the rest of us from loosing even more money chasing the impossiable money refund,  paying the spainish lawers over and over and who left us in this position.     Is there ONE LEGAL FIRM who really belives they can get money, I will give them HALF of my 40.000e........dont expect a reply,  they know the cant do it.

Good post Jackb and interestingly, but not surprisingly, I see there are no takers!!!! And that truly says a lot, you've hit the nail on the head, winning legal cases in Spain is easy, getting the authorities to enforce it is impossible! Since we are in the EU, how come no one there can enforce anything???????

no we dont know of ONE person.......that is the TRUE answer.......just admit it !!!!!