Lawyers pursuing group action litigation claims for failed Italian holiday development set sights on professional indemnity insurers

Posted: 20/06/2014

Penningtons Manches’ commercial dispute resolution team is currently pursuing a high profile group action litigation claim relating to negligent advice given by solicitors to a large number of victims who have lost their substantial deposits on the widely-reported Jewel of the Sea and El Caribe holiday development projects in the South of Italy.

The projects in the region of Calabria were subsequently abandoned following Italian police intervention over allegations of mafia and IRA money laundering. Many investors have been unable to claim back the initial deposits made to Italian lawyer, Gabriele Giambrone, and his partners, who have since been sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The team, led by partner David Niven, has been instructed by over 100 people  to recover multi-million pound damages for professional negligence and breach of trust. The defendants, Italian lawyer, Gabriele Giambrone and his businesses, acted for Niven’s clients in their purchases of off-plan properties in two separate dream holiday home developments, the Jewel of the Sea and El Caribe, in Calabria, Southern Italy in 2007/8.

Penningtons Manches is currently suing Giambrone, who took receipt of around 50% of the deposit payments. If successful in this action, it is also then likely that separate proceedings will be commenced against Giambrone’s professional indemnity insurer, AIG, on the basis that the cover it provided is wider than the very restrictive basis it is now claiming. Unfortunately, this will almost certainly mean many of the clients are potentially locked into litigation for years to come.

David Niven said: “The time has come for the solicitor’s insurer, AIG, to agree to pay these innocent people for their life-changing losses. Simply stating that there is no insurance money left to meet their claims because earlier settlement payments to other claimants have exhausted the available insurance pot is not good enough and is unnecessarily prolonging my clients’ agony.”

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