The Commercial Court No. 3 of Palma de Mallorca has dealt a blow to the president of the newly formed Association of Moorers of the Club Nautico de Ibiza, Naihara Cardona Martinez, by sentencing her for non-payment of mooring fees. According to the sentence, in possession of La Voz de Ibiza, Cardona must pay 1,353.87 euros plus legal interest to Puertos y Litorales Sostenibles, S.L., the current concessionaire of the dock of the Club Náutico de Ibiza.
The court ruling reinforces the position of the concessionaire, which took over the management of the port in May 2024, and validates the tariffs and billing conditions imposed, rejecting the arguments of insubordination promoted by the president and other former partners. In addition, Cardona will have to bear the costs of the trial, which aggravates its judicial defeat.
A strategy of insubordination led by the president of the amarristas
The ruling is a setback not only for the president, but also for the strategy adopted by the Mooring Association, which has been critical of the measures implemented by Ports and Coasts since her arrival. Naihara Cardona has been a key figure in the mobilization of former members and in the promotion of the refusal of payments as a protest measure against what they call “abusive rates” and lack of transparency in management.
The ruling confirms that the policy of billing for six-monthly periods in advance, applied by Puertos y Litorales, is legal and in accordance with the regulations of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands. This practice, aimed at avoiding mooring abandonment in low season, has been one of the main reasons for the complaint of the association led by Cardona.
From Puertos y Litorales Sostenibles have expressed today, through a statement, their satisfaction with the ruling that fully upholds the lawsuit filed by Puertos y Litorales Sostenibles S.L. against the president of the Association of Moorers of the Yacht Club of Ibiza, Naihara Cardona, claiming the payment of mooring fees accrued by her boat.
The sentence affirms that “the reason for opposition put forward by the defendant for not paying the debt in full cannot succeed since the issuance of invoices, for semesters in advance, to the base vessels is usual, since the vessels that are moored in the dock or port for 6 or more months a year are considered as such. Otherwise, they would lose that status, they would be treated as transients and would have to pay a much higher rate”.
The judgment bases the “factual normality, both factual and legal, of the issuance of invoices for anticipated semesters (in this case it has been for five months)” on various regulations.
The sentence goes on to say that “the requirement of payment by semesters in advance has the reasonable justification of avoiding that a vessel pays for two or three months (the high season, fundamentally) base rate, and then abandons the port, leaving a mooring of very difficult commercialization in the low season”.
In relation to the applicable tariffs, the judgment refers to “the tariffs approved by the Balearic Islands Port Authority on May 6, 2024, applicable – as stated therein – from that same date”.
The judgment concludes that “in view of the foregoing, the claim filed must be fully upheld” and imposes the costs on the defendant.
The judgment is final and no appeal may be filed against it.
Harassment campaign
On the other hand, Sustainable Ports and Coasts, has described the latest statement of the Association, not sent to La Voz de Ibiza, “a new campaign of harassment and misinformation by the so-called Association of Moorers of the Yacht Club of Ibiza, and its president, Naihara Cardona Martinez”.
Sustainable Ports and Coasts will respond to this campaign at the time and with the actions it deems appropriate.
As La Voz de Ibiza advanced this summer, the boat of the president of the moorers was sealed by the Civil Guard for non-payment, a seal that was lifted when the user deposited the amount in the court of the case whose resolution has been known today.
