�Tenants' attorney to file case today�
PELICAN--The attorney representing the timeshare owners of Simpson Bay Resort and Marina (formerly Pelican Resort) will head to court today, as the resort did not comply with their request to reopen by Saturday.
Attorney Gerrit van Giffen told The Daily Herald on Sunday that he would file legal action today, Monday, as indicated in a letter to the resort's attorneys on Friday.
Attorney Maarten le Poole of HBN Law, representing Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL), said a new draft proposal had been prepared by special mediator Rafael Boasman and had been submitted to the union late Friday. This will be discussed with WIFOL and the union's members today and a response given.
"There are some movements, but nothing definitive at this time," said Le Poole, without giving any details of the new proposal. "Workers were paid on Friday and this is a good sign," he added.
In a telephone interview Sunday, Van Giffen said he was preparing to file the court action on behalf of his clients Monday morning. "We did not receive a response [to our letter, ed.] and that's not good. We had high hopes they would open," he said.
The resort's attorney Jairo Bloem of Bloem and Associates, who said he had been amazed to receive a call from this newspaper, said Sunday that the resort "will not comply" with the demands to reopen. He said it was not clear what timeshare owners Van Giffen was representing and he reiterated that the resort had closed its doors because it was no longer economically viable to remain open.
Asked if the resort had opened its books to prove its financial difficulties, Bloem said audited financial statements of previous years had been provided to government and these also would be published.
Van Giffen said he hadn't yet received a response from the resort's attorney up to the time he had spoken to this newspaper. However, Bloem said a response would be sent.
Van Giffen, on behalf of the timeshare owners, had sent a letter to Bloem and Associates last week contending that the decision to cease operations on February 20 had had "great negative consequences on the timeshare rights of the members of his client the Tenants Association (TA) Pelican Resort and Club.
"This action is also in direct conflict with the undertakings given by Royal [Resorts, ed.] and Simpson Bay [Resort, ed.] earlier, in which they have assured that the timeshare rights of the timeshare owners would be honoured by the new owner of the resort. Based on these statements, the major part of the timeshare owners paid their 2011 maintenance fees (due by most of them on January 15, 2011) [...] to either Royal or Simpson Bay."
Van Giffen said the February 11 announcement by Simpson Bay Resort in which timeshare members were advised that "diligence, responsibility and long-term viability" of the resort had compelled management to close the resort as of Sunday, February 20, had been a "shock" to the timeshare owners and conflicted with Royal Resorts' and Simpson Bay Resort's earlier statements about honouring timeshare rights.
"The closing is not only conflicting with these statements, but is also a direct, material breach of Royal Resorts' and Simpson Bay Resort's legal obligations under the pertaining timeshare contracts. The compensation, as mentioned by Simpson Bay in the announcement to be laid down in a programme to be issued later, is inadequate and does not live up to the commitments that Simpson Bay [Resort, ed.] has towards the timeshare owners.
"As you know, all in-good-standing timeshare owners are members of my client the TA. In the light of that, TA feels compelled to have an injunction relief request filed soon, by which the Court will be requested to order Royal [Resorts, ed.] and Simpson Bay [Resort, ed.] to resume management of the resort.
"If it is financially not feasible for Simpson Bay [Resort, ed.] to comply with such relief, the Court will alternatively be requested to order Royal [Resorts, ed.] and Simpson Bay [Resort, ed.] to reimburse those timeshare owners who demand same, the maintenance fees as paid by them.
"Taking into account the negative consequences of the auction and the subsequent actions of your clients, which, in the view of my clients, are unlawful on the part of the various parties, TA, Pelican Resort Club ? the owner company N.V. ? and Pelican Resort Club ? the management company N.V. ? have decided to provide to the Stichting Belangen Behartiging Pelican Resort and Club (the 'Foundation'), a private mandate, which, in short, entails that the foundation, to the exclusion of all others, has been mandated to undertake any and all judicial and extrajudicial actions it deems necessary to safeguard their interests."
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