Dismisses Las Margaritas cassation for defective argumentation on both sub-grounds
Jul 18 2025
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Justice, Civil Chamber, dismissed the cassation filed by Avicola Las Margaritas, S.A. against the ruling of the Fifth Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals of June 10, 2024. The cassation sought to overturn the appellate confirmation of the dismissal of Avicola Las Margaritas' summary abuse-of-rights lawsuit against Lisa, S.A., in which Avicola alleged that Lisa exercised its right of action as a shareholder in an excessive and bad-faith manner. The Chamber found irremediable defects of argumentation on both sub-grounds invoked, precluding any analysis on the merits.
Avicola Las Margaritas, S.A. filed a summary proceeding for abuse of rights against Lisa, S.A., alleging excess and bad faith in the exercise of the right of action. The claim was based on Lisa's filing of lawsuits, amparos, and criminal complaints in Guatemala, the United States, and Panama, which Avicola characterized as abusive exercise of shareholder rights.
The Eighth Multi-Judge Civil Court of First Instance ruled on February 7, 2024, sustaining Lisa's peremptory exceptions (failure to meet the prerequisites of abuse of rights, lack of standing in the plaintiff, and lack of standing in the defendant) and dismissing the lawsuit. Both parties were exempted from costs. The Fifth Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals affirmed the first-instance ruling in full on June 10, 2024, concluding that the documentary evidence offered by Avicola was neither suitable nor sufficient to demonstrate the alleged abuse.
Avicola Las Margaritas filed cassation on substantive grounds, invoking two sub-grounds under Article 621(2) of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure: error of law in the appreciation of evidence and error of fact in the appreciation of evidence.
On error of law. Avicola Las Margaritas argued that the Court of Appeals failed to confer the probative value required by Article 186 of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure on three documents: amended pleadings from a lawsuit Lisa filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case No. 99-03519 CA 21) along with the dismissal order, a criminal complaint filed before the Seventh Criminal Court of First Instance (file 01079-2018-00056), and a criminal complaint filed with the Public Ministry of Panama.
The Chamber identified multiple deficiencies: the appellant failed to formulate an individual thesis for each piece of evidence challenged, failed to clearly identify the nature of the alleged error under the invoked sub-ground, presented a contradictory thesis by simultaneously arguing that the Court of Appeals omitted to appreciate the evidence and that it denied the evidence its proper value, and failed to develop argumentation for each rule of the valuation system. The Chamber further noted that the appellate court had not assigned probative value to the challenged documents because it found them unsuitable for the claim, which is a necessary predicate for substantive review.
On error of fact. Avicola Las Margaritas argued that the Court of Appeals erred in appreciating a criminal complaint filed on August 29, 2001, by Juan Guillermo Gutierrez Strauss before the Seventh Criminal Court of First Instance, by finding that the document did not link Lisa as a complainant. The appellant contended that Gutierrez Strauss acted in his capacity as majority shareholder and ultimate beneficiary of Lisa.
The Chamber found that the appellant failed to specify whether the alleged error was one of omission or distortion, and failed to present a clear and precise thesis explaining how the alleged defect arose. Lisa, S.A. responded that natural and juridical persons maintain separate legal personality, so acts by a shareholder in a personal capacity are not attributable to the entity.
The ruling does not identify by name the justices of the Civil Chamber who signed it.