Order: Court revoked dividend claim admission by Inversiones

On January 20, 2023, the Eighth Civil Court of First Instance ruled in favor of Lisa, S.A. in a key dispute related to the Avícola Villalobos Group. The court granted Lisa’s recurso de revocatoria, overturning a 2019 order that had wrongly admitted a shareholder’s ordinary lawsuit seeking to declare the dividend obligation expired. The court held that the dispute, which concerns Lisa’s right to collect unpaid dividends since 1999, falls squarely within the commercial jurisdiction and must be processed under summary proceedings.

The ruling confirmed that Lisa’s position was fully grounded in Guatemalan commercial law and the corporate charter of Inversiones Empresariales, S.A., which explicitly mandates summary resolution of shareholder disputes. The Constitutional Court had previously ruled in support of this interpretation. The court’s decision blocks the attempt to avoid the agreed-upon legal route and reaffirms Lisa’s rights within the Avícola Villalobos Group as a shareholder demanding compliance with contractual obligations.