Fifth Civil Court assumes jurisdiction after Villamorey's recusal removes prior judge
Feb 2 2023
5th Civil Court
Order No. 176/2023 formalizes the transfer of the summary accounting action filed by Lisa, S.A. against Villamorey, S.A. to the Fifth Circuit Civil Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama. The transfer stems from Order No. 2119 of October 31, 2022, in which the Fifth Court itself sustained the recusal motion filed by the law firm Galindo, Arias y Lopez, counsel for Villamorey, against Judge Solange Le Ferrec Malek de Booker of the Fourth Circuit Civil Court, removing her from the case.
The recusal of Judge Le Ferrec forms part of a broader pattern of procedural maneuvers by Villamorey to resist the judicially ordered accounting. By the time of this transfer, the record already contained significant rulings adverse to the defendant: a contempt finding for failing to comply with the order to render accounts, a $44,910,912.00 attachment decree over retained dividends, and the appellate confirmation of the contempt ruling by the First Superior Tribunal just three months earlier.
The criminal complaint Villamorey filed against Judge Le Ferrec for alleged abuse of authority was archived by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which found no criminal conduct. Lisa, S.A., in turn, filed a criminal complaint for judicial intimidation against Villamorey, which was admitted by the Prosecutor's Office, on the basis that the filing of the criminal complaint against the judge constituted an act of intimidation aimed at altering judicial decisions adverse to the defendant.