The special chamber of the Supreme Court (TS) has determined that an investigative court in Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, processes the fraud complaint filed by a passenger after her suitcase was lost at the airport in the south of the island.
The events took place on July 1, 2021 and on the 7th of that month the citizen reported the loss of the suitcase to the court.
In the complaint he stated that upon his arrival from vacation with his family he saw that a checked suitcase had been lost and then they looked for a hotel to spend the night.
The next day, he returned to the airport to find out if the luggage had been found, which was still missing, so he bought various toiletries and clothes.
On July 4, after filing two complaints, he received a call telling him that the suitcase had been found but that the lock was open and various objects were missing inside, including an electronic book.
The investigating court number 3 of Arona agreed to initiate preliminary proceedings for the possible commission of a crime of fraud, but inhibited itself in favor of the Granadilla court, since the reported events had occurred within the constituency of this judicial district.
From here the case was sent to the Commercial Court, which in turn declared itself incompetent to investigate the events given that they occurred at the airport, and went to the Supreme Court to make a decision.
The commercial court rectified its position and offered the complainant the possibility of filing an appeal due to lack of jurisdiction, which was communicated to him on two occasions by email, so the matter once again returned to the Supreme Court to resolve the conflict.
Two years later, the Supreme Court has determined that the lawsuit was not filed in civil proceedings claiming compensation for the damages caused as a result of the misplacement and loss of effects of his luggage, which is why it cannot be addressed in this proceedings.
On the contrary, the citizen went to the criminal jurisdiction for the alleged commission of a crime of fraud that gave rise to prior proceedings being processed, so that the Supreme Court considers that the Court of Granadilla de Abona should be the territorially competent one. to continue investigating the facts.
