Order: Court dismissed damages claim by Forrajera

On September 27, 2016, the First Civil Court of First Instance in Guatemala dismissed the damages lawsuit filed by Industria Forrajera de Mazatenango, S.A. against Lisa, S.A. The court upheld three preliminary objections raised by Lisa: (i) the lawsuit was premature because a separate case contesting Lisa’s shareholder exclusion was still unresolved, (ii) Lisa lacked legal standing because the acts in question were attributed to third parties, and (iii) the claim was time-barred under the one-year statute of limitations in Article 1673 of the Civil Code.

The court rejected Forrajera’s argument that Lisa orchestrated a defamatory campaign and fabricated evidence, concluding that any harm from such acts was known for more than a decade before the lawsuit was filed. The judge also found the lawsuit’s timing improper due to the ongoing legal uncertainty around Lisa’s exclusion. While the exceptions of “defective pleading” and “expiration” were denied, the ruling closed the case without awarding special costs.