Opposes dismissal for inactivity

On October 27, 2025, counsel for Lisa, S.A. filed a hearing brief before the Second Chamber of the Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals in appeal No. 251-2025, asking the Chamber to reject the appeal filed by Alimentos para Animales, S.A. and to confirm the order issued on September 4, 2024 by the Seventh Multipersonal Civil Court of First Instance of Guatemala. The brief explains that the appellant’s incident of “caducidad de la instancia” (lapse for inactivity) was correctly denied because, at the time the appellant invoked caducidad, the case was already “in a state of decision” (“en estado de resolver”) and therefore the continuation of the process no longer depended on either party but solely on the court. Under article 589(1) of the Guatemalan Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure, caducidad does not apply when the file is with the judge for a pending ruling.

The brief further argues, relying on procedural doctrine and on a 11 September 2024 ruling of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court (exp. 7840-2023) cited as an analogous situation, that a party cannot be punished with caducidad for delays caused by the court’s own pending actions, such as verifying notifications or sending certified copies to the appeals chamber. Lisa, S.A. stresses that the appellant’s narrow reading — that “estado de resolver” only covers final judgments or rulings on the merits — is contrary to the purpose of article 589 CPCM and to the principle of effective judicial protection, because the rule protects the diligent party when the judge, not the party, controls the next procedural step. For that reason, Lisa, S.A. asks the Chamber to declare the appeal by Alimentos para Animales, S.A. without merit, to confirm the first-instance order of 2024-09-04, and to award costs in second instance against the appellant.