Order: Court referred dividend claim to arbitration by Distribuidora Avícola del Norte

On February 6, 2023, the Eleventh Civil Court of First Instance declared itself incompetent to hear a lawsuit filed by Distribuidora Avícola del Norte, S.A. seeking to extinguish dividend payments owed to Lisa, S.A. The court upheld a preliminary objection raised by Lisa, S.A., which invoked a binding arbitration clause in Distribuidora’s 2002 corporate charter. According to the ruling, the parties had agreed to submit any disputes arising from the corporate relationship to arbitration under Guatemalan arbitration law.

The judge ruled that since the claim concerned the alleged expiration of dividend obligations, it fell squarely within the scope of the arbitration agreement. Citing both the parties’ original contract and legal precedent, the court instructed that the case be referred to arbitration and declined to address the remaining procedural objections. No costs were imposed due to the complexity of the legal issue.