The Lord Justices of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales notified yesterday their written decision allowing former Spanish king Juan Carlos I to appeal the judgement of 24th March that denied him any immunity from the harassment claim of his mistress Ms Corinna Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
Interestingly, the emeritus king’s defence has managed to get the appeal to address one of the most controversial aspects of the case, given that the Spanish secret services, the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) and its then director, General Fรฉlix Sanz Roldรกn, are alleged to have intervened in the acts denounced by Ms Corinna – surveillance, housebreaking, tapping phones and tracking emails, and even leaks to the media – in their “official” capacity as an institution and as a public servant, respectively.
However, although the EWCA have allowed access to appeal on three of the five grounds raised by Don Juan Carlos’s defence relating to his pre-abdication liability, it is clear that, even if a favourable judgment is obtained, Corinna’s claim will go ahead.
And this is made crystal clear in paragraph 35 of the judgment, where Lord Underhill states that “It is common ground that even if the Defendant [Don Juan Carlos] succeeds on grounds 1, 2 and 4 that will not be fatal to the Claimant’s [Ms Corinna] claim, since she pleads “post-abdication” acts of harassment in respect of which immunity under section 1 cannot arise. But so long as
they remain part of her case the Defendant is entitled to pursue his objection to them.”
In other words, Corinna’s claim against king emeritus will continue and many other procedural and substantive grounds on which the English courts have not yet said a word will have to be resolved.
“There is a lot of game left to play.”
Many thanks to Confilegal for having my opinion on the claim filed by ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ฎ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ป-๐ช๐ถ๐๐๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป-๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ป against the King Emeritus of Spain ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐ before the courts of England and Wales.
JG
