Seventy families who have recently been dispossessed of the three booths at the Seville fairground that they have been enjoying since 2022 will be able to enjoy this year’s April Fair. This decision was made by the judges of the Andalusian Superior Court of Justice, who have dismissed the provisional execution requested by the winning party of the lawsuits, stating that “the imminence of the event” – starting on April 14th – would cause “irreparable harm” to the current partners. These partners have already paid the required fees for the renewal of the use of the booths and have made the necessary economic expenditures for setup, bar, security, and musical performances.
The lawyer and partner of booth 173, Rafael Labat, explains that they are currently calm for this year but are less certain about what might happen next. The families affected are waiting for the City Council to appeal to the Supreme Court, which would make it easier for them to litigate in the higher court. The City Council has not confirmed whether they will appeal. The judges ruled in favor of the City Council and the booth partners from the past two years, stating that the booths had been redistributed to partners who were on the waiting list, as the original family failed to renew the license on time.
The City Council argued that the booths had already been assigned to the rightful owners according to the waiting list, fees had been paid for this year’s fair, and changing ownership would cause financial harm. The affected family argued that they had already suffered personal harm from not having access to their booth in recent years. The Court rejected the City Council and booth owners’ procedural arguments but acknowledged that the provisional execution would cause irreparable harm at the current date and should not be ordered when it could result in irreversible situations.
The ruling only pertains to booth 173, the first to receive the decision to return ownership to the previous family, with the request for provisional execution. The Court found that the City Council had misled the family into error and held them responsible for the miscommunication. The court believed that the family had been led to error by the actions of the City Council and rejected the argument that negligence on the part of the previous owner was the cause of the loss of the booth.
The Court’s decision could set a precedent for the recovery of booths lost during the pandemic due to late payments of fees or license renewals. The hope is that the families can continue enjoying the booths in the future and various scenarios are being considered for the fair in 2025. Options include the City Council assigning one of the 300 new booths promised to ease the waiting list, but no decision has been made yet. The focus for now is on enjoying the upcoming fair while waiting to see how the situation develops in the future.
