On 23 November 1993, the Court of First Instance in Falset issued a judgment concerning the free transfer of several assets in the Planas del Rey development to Pratdip Town Council.
The proceedings had been brought by the Urban Development Conservation Entity of the Las Planas del Rei development (EUCC). Its purpose was to obtain a public deed from Francis Lebasque formally recording the legal transfer of those assets.
Proceedings brought by the EUCC
The claim was dealt with in civil proceedings registered under case number 12/90.
The EUCC requested that Francis Lebasque and the Creditors’ Committee created in connection with his suspension of payments execute a public deed of transfer free of charge in favour of Pratdip Town Council.
The defendants were duly summoned but did not appear before the court and were therefore declared in default.
The Creditors’ Committee does not oppose the claim
During the proceedings, the EUCC submitted a document signed by the secretary of the Creditors’ Committee in Francis Lebasque’s suspension-of-payments proceedings.
The document states that, at its meeting on 29 May 1990, the Committee had decided not to oppose the claim brought by the EUCC.
The court took this position into account, together with the provisions of the Spanish Civil Code concerning the formalisation in a public instrument of transactions involving real property.
The assets covered by the judgment
The operative part of the judgment lists precisely the assets for which Francis Lebasque must formalise a free transfer in favour of Pratdip Town Council:
- the Olympic-size swimming pool and the smaller swimming pool, together with all their corresponding services;
- the five tennis courts;
- the miniature golf course;
- the well with its pumps;
- the roads;
- the sewerage network;
- all land constituting the green areas, together with the existing planting;
- street lighting.
This list should be distinguished from earlier documents, particularly the 1977 donation proposal, which contained a broader list of assets and installations.
The court orders Francis Lebasque to execute the deed of transfer
In its legal reasoning, the court recalls that Article 1280 of the Spanish Civil Code requires contracts involving the transfer of real property to be recorded in a public instrument.
Having found the existence of the transfer to be established, and taking into account the position of the Creditors’ Committee, the court declares that Francis Lebasque is obliged to execute the corresponding public deed on the terms sought.
The judgment therefore does not order Pratdip Town Council to accept the assets. What it imposes on the developer is the obligation to formalise their free transfer in favour of the municipality.
An important stage in the administrative history of Planas del Rey
The judgment of 23 November 1993 marks another stage in a transfer process that had begun many years earlier.
Following the initiatives of 1968, the donation proposal made by Francisco Lebasque in 1977 and the creation of the EUCC in the 1980s, the court now intervenes to establish specifically Francis Lebasque’s obligation to formalise, by public deed, the free transfer of the listed assets.
However, the judgment does not, by itself, establish whether all of these assets were subsequently transferred in practice, entered in the Land Registry or formally taken over by the Town Council. Those questions require an examination of the administrative, notarial and land-registration documents issued after the judgment.
Jim – La Tribune de Planas
Translation of the original judgment
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF FALSET
JUDGMENT
In Falset, on the twenty-third day of November, nineteen ninety-three.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
FIRST. — Through Procurator Mr Gallego Vergara, acting in the name and on behalf of the URBAN DEVELOPMENT CONSERVATION ENTITY OF THE LAS PLANAS DEL REI DEVELOPMENT, proceedings of lesser amount were brought before this Court under number 12/90, seeking the execution of a public deed for the free transfer of assets by Mr FRANCIS LEBASQUE and by THE CREDITORS’ COMMITTEE OF THE SUSPENSION OF PAYMENTS OF Mr FRANCIS LEBASQUE, in favour of PRATDIP TOWN COUNCIL.
SECOND. — The defendants, having been duly summoned in accordance with the law and having failed to appear or respond to the claim, were declared in default. Evidence having been requested by the claimant, the evidence proposed was taken, with the results recorded in the case file.
THIRD. — Counsel for the claimant submitted to the proceedings a document signed by the secretary of the Creditors’ Committee in the suspension-of-payments proceedings of FRANCIS LEBASQUE, stating that at the meeting of that Committee held on 29 May 1990 it had been agreed not to oppose the claim brought by the claimant entity in these proceedings.
LEGAL GROUNDS
FIRST. — Article 1280 of the Civil Code provides that contracts whose object is the transfer of real property must be set out in a public instrument. The existence of such transfer having been established, and in view of the acquiescence of the Creditors’ Committee in the suspension-of-payments proceedings of Mr FRANCIS LEBASQUE, it is appropriate, pursuant to Article 1258 of the Civil Code, to declare his obligation to execute the public deed in the terms set out in the claim.
SECOND. — Since the Creditors’ Committee in the suspension-of-payments proceedings of Mr FRANCIS LEBASQUE, as the body competent to decide on this matter, has acquiesced, and since such acquiescence occurred before responding to the claim, it is appropriate, pursuant to Article 523 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to exempt it from payment of the costs incurred, which shall be borne by the claimant as a consequence of that acquiescence.
Having regard to the aforementioned provisions and to the other generally applicable and relevant provisions,
I HEREBY RULE
I must declare, and hereby declare, that Mr FRANCIS LEBASQUE is obliged to execute a public deed for the free transfer of the following assets:
- the Olympic-size swimming pool and the smaller swimming pool, together with all their corresponding services;
- the five tennis courts;
- the miniature golf course;
- the well with its pumps;
- the roads;
- the sewerage network;
- all land constituting the green areas, together with the existing planting;
- and street lighting;
in favour of Pratdip Town Council, and I order him to pay the costs of these proceedings.
Thus, by this judgment, I so pronounce, order and sign.
Juan Francisco Guerra Mora
Judge of the Court of First Instance and Investigation of Falset and its judicial district
PUBLICATION. — This judgment was read and published on the same day as its date by the Judge who issued it, in public hearing and in my presence. I so certify in my capacity as Court Secretary.
