The Athens Court of Appeals confirmed the decision of the Multi-Member First Instance Court of Athens re. a fictitious prior agreement.
Specifically, the Court of Appeals ruled that the prior agreement was fictitious for the following reasons: se
The legal basis for the transfer of the land between the parties was not a permitted by law (secure of claims), and therefore such a transfer is void.
Plaintiffs knew that the prior agreement was void at the time of its entry into force.
The agreed purchase price was never paid to the defendant.
The agreed purchase price was very low and obviously disproportionate to the real commercial value of the real estate in question.
Two days following the conclusion of the prior agreement, one of the plaintiffs withdrew from a lawsuit regarding succession disputes against the defendant.
The plaintiffs did not take any action to demonstrate their possession over the real estate in question, although they had such right by virtue of the so-called agreement.
The defendant paid the inheritance tax attributable to the real estate in question, which was nine times greater than the agreed purchase price.
The parties had never withdrawn from fictitious objection in the prior agreement.
The Court also ruled that plaintiffs’ claim before the Court of Appeals that the parties had agreed a donation was inadmissible, because it was raised for the first time before the Court of Appeals.
Nikos Grigoriadis co-represented the defendant.
