Last week, Borja Uzquiano, one of our lawyers, had the opportunity to participate in The Academy, an intensive international legal training program organized by Multilaw. The program took place in Thailand, starting on July 20, and lasted for seven days.
Borja enjoyed several days of learning and connecting with colleagues from around the world — truly an enriching experience that strengthens our commitment to professional excellence and international collaboration.
On Wednesday 26 March, Giménez Torres Abogados held an information breakfast for its clients, in which Ignacio Guillén González, Managing Partner of the Litigation and Arbitration Department, participated as a speaker.
The session focused on the recent amendment to the Civil Procedure Code and, in particular, the obligation, as a procedural requirement, to try to reach an agreement before resorting to judicial proceedings, through one of the appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms (ADR) established by Organic Law 1/2025, which will enter into force for these purposes on 3 April 2025.
The event, which ended with a lively and interesting discussion, was attended by around 60 participants, both in person and via teleconference. Giménez Torres Abogados would like to thank everyone for the excellent reception and the interest shown in the event.
Silvia Moreno Benítez, Partner in charge of the Labor Department, has participated as a panelist in the Multilaw Webinar: Social Media and Dismissal. The Balance Between Freedom of Speech and Obligations as a “Good” Employee
Our partners Ignacio Guillén González (Managing Partner of the Litigation and Arbitration Department, member of the Multilaw Board) and Luis Giménez Godosar (Partner of the Real Estate and Corporate practice area) had the opportunity to participate in the #Multilaw Global Conference 2024 held in Boston from September 26th to 29th.
Ignacio Guillén González, in his capacity as President of Pro Bono and Charitable Activities, presenting the project of the charity selected for the Boston conference, Big Brothers Big Sisters Eastern Massachusetts.
For the third consecutive year we have collaborated with the Promiva Foundation which, through the social action department of the Francisco de Vitoria University, aims to promote the inclusion and training of students with functional diversity within the university framework.
The Avanza Programme offers these people the experience of university life and as part of this experience Giménez Torres Abogados collaborates once again this year by training its students in our work centre in Madrid.
Programa Avanza de la Fundación Promiva | Programa Avanza para personas con discapacidad intelectual de la Fundación Promiva. More Info>
Hitachi Energy organized a round table with customers on 7 April to discuss current world events and their possible impact on the company.
Ignacio Guillén, from Giménez Torres Abogados, spoke alongside Sven Hoffmann, from Heussen, Germany; David Gu, from JunHe, China; and Philip D’Costa, from Penningtons Manches Cooper, UK, reaching a hearing of 70 Multilaw member lawyers, world-leading network of independent law firms of which Giménez Torres Abogados is a founding member.
On 25 September 2020 the First Instance Court No. 81 of Madrid passed a judgment adopting precautionary measures in application of the rebus sic stantibus clause.
The doctrine of the rebus sic stantibus clause is a reasonable theoretical construction from an equity point of view but devoid of regulation. It is, above all, a clause of exceptional and extraordinary application.
The fact is that rebus sic stantibus is a Latin expression that can be translated as “things being as they are” and refers to a principle of Law by virtue of which it is understood that the stipulations established in contracts take into account the concurrent circumstances at the time of their conclusion, that is to say, any substantial alteration of these circumstances could modify those stipulations.
However, this clause vigorously clashes with the principle of contractual security, better known as pacta sunt servanda or “the pacts [agreements] are made to be fulfilled”, hence the exceptionality of the clause under consideration.
Consequently, only atypical and extraordinary situations caused by “absolutely unforeseeable circumstances” and resulting in an “exorbitant disproportion between the services provided by the parties” will lead to a loss of contractual security for the purpose of applying the rebus sic stantibus clause, according to the Spanish Supreme Court.
The first judgment passed in Spain in application of this exceptional clause, motivated by the critical economic scenario (as a consequence of the current health emergency situation) settles in a precautionary basis ––before the trial takes place, and in order to preserve the effectiveness of a possible definitive estimation of the claim–– the controversy between: (i) the lessee of a night club whose opening is not permitted from the time of the declaration of the state of alert and until further notice; and (ii) the lessor owner of the night club who did not accept to the lessee’s request to suspend the payment of the rent.
1. Background
On March 14, the Spanish Government approved the declaration of the state of alarm to deal with the health emergency caused by COVID-19 in Spain, through Royal Decree 463/2020.
This Royal Decree established “the suspension and interruption of procedural periods“, that specified that their calculation “shall continue at the moment the Royal Decree or its extensions end“.
Besides it stated the “suspension of administrative deadlines” and the substantive deadlines (i.e., the corresponding deadlines of the actions and rights that could be affected by the statute of limitations and lapse ––“caducidad” and “prescripción” in Spanish Law).
So far, it seemed clear that the deadlines would be continued when the state of alarm ended, but they would not be restarted.
Those contracts in force at the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of 17 March, the performance of which becomes impossible as result of COVID-19, will be suspended, in whole or in part, from the time the situation that prevents their performance arises and until such performance can be resumed. It will be understood that performance may be resumed when the contracting authority notifies the contractor the termination of the suspension.
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Measures in the field of Public Procurement.pdf
Last Sunday, 29 March, Royal Decree-Law 10/2020 was published in the Official State Gazette – which came into force on the same day – and a few hours later Order SND/307/2020, 30 March, was also published, establishing the interpretative criteria for the application of Royal Decree-Law 10/2020, 29 March, and the model of responsible declaration to facilitate the necessary travels from the place of residence and the place of work.
This Royal Decree-Law contains and specifies the measures that the Government had already announced regarding the suspension of all non-essential economic activity. Thus, workers whose jobs are not considered essential will not have to go to work between Monday 30 March and 9 April 2020.
