The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has condemned the Association for the Progress of Management (APD), which brings together businessmen from the Archipelago, to pay 3,600 euros plus interest to the international expert, Bindu Dadlani, who in 2016 was invited to participate in one of his talks, which was cancelled.
When the expert was traveling on a plane to the Canary Islands, the representatives of the association unsuccessfully tried to contact her to tell her that the meeting had been cancelled.
From then on, the expert required that the agreed fees be paid, but she was always faced with a refusal from the APD and even one of the managers responded in writing: “how strong, no case!”.
After three years trying to reach an agreement out of court, in 2019 the lawyer María Pérez Ramos filed a lawsuit that was rejected in the first instance, but on which the Provincial Court has now recognized the right of the speaker to collect that money more interest.
In total it would be 4,155 euros, which are deposited in the Court, retained by the strike of the court clerks.
The underlying issue was to demonstrate that there was an agreement to give the conference and a price of 3,600 euros was set. For this, the contribution of several emails in which the aspects of the agreement, the invitation to the event and fees were specified was essential.
The Association for the Progress of Management argued during the judicial process that the person who managed the contract and who was the honorary president and sponsor of the conference through a company, did not have the power to do so.
The appellant’s response was that she was not required to know the powers of the managers and that the event was promoted by the association on its website, on social networks, and invitations were sent to members.
The expert, of Canarian origin, lived in Boston at that time and traveled to Europe to participate in various meetings, including the one organized by this association, for which reason she had adapted her agenda “around” that talk.
In total, he claimed 7,445 euros for the payment of the ticket, fees and moral damage caused.
The reason for the unilateral cancellation and communicated at the last minute was that a national congress of Canarian APD managers was held in the Canary Islands on those dates.
The response “how strong, no case” from the head of the association on the islands when he claimed the money, according to the speaker, “lacks the minimum of education.”
The plaintiff regrets having been subject to “continuous ignorance” and “lack of respect” when trying to reach an agreement with the intention of avoiding a lawsuit and the absence of a word and devaluation of her work.
The lawyer indicates that for years “we saw how the directors of the association in which the main businessmen of the Canary Islands are integrated, ignored our request to establish a new date, pay fees and how they did not comply with what they said”
Dadlani declares that “this procedure has meant a great lack of respect towards me as a person, woman and professional who dedicates, in addition to knowledge and academic training, love and affection to my profession. I consider myself an example that no one is a prophet in their land”.
And this in so far as the managers of “higher Canary Islands” did not know how to take advantage of the conference that “I prepared personalized for them, in which I was going to talk about large-scale techniques that could serve as a guide for the new generations.”
Consequently, he requested compensation of 2,446 euros for the non-material damage caused, in addition to the fees, but which was not accepted by the Provincial Court.
The APD argued that no remuneration was ever agreed upon, as has been done with other speakers, and that the plaintiff wanted them to pay for an 18-day trip for personal business to Brussels, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, despite the fact that as expenses they had only been asked for the amount of the ticket.
The room analyzed the emails from the president in which the speaker was asked for an estimate of fees and offered to be a sponsor.
Another email sent by the expert communicated the amount required and the topic that she was going to address under the title, “Leaders sensitive to change.”
At the time, the board of directors responded that the celebration of the act, which consisted of a meeting-breakfast in Tenerife with the possibility of repeating it later in Gran Canaria, was accepted and without questioning the fees at any time.
Therefore, the room believes it has been proven that damage was caused due to having to travel from Boston to give the conference and prepare its content, for which reason it sets the compensation at 3,600 euros plus interest but rejects the compensation for non-material damage.
In the speaker’s curriculum, she appears as an executive and business consultant with a degree in Business Administration and Management from Boston University.
She currently works as director of the European India Chamber in the Canary Islands based in Brussels, has published more than 12 books and has given workshops and conferences internationally.
