Order

The Thirteenth Civil Court of First Instance of Guatemala granted the motion for amplification filed by Lisa, S.A. and expressly ordered the lifting of all precautionary measures imposed against Lisa within the ordinary damages proceeding, Expediente 01044-2012-00279. The amplification supplements the January 26, 2021 order, which sustained the preliminary exception of prescription and terminated the proceeding, but did not address the status of the existing precautionary measures.

Case Background

Reproductores Avícolas, S.A. and Avícola Villalobos, S.A. filed an ordinary damages lawsuit against Lisa, S.A., alleging wrongful acts that purportedly motivated Lisa's exclusion as a shareholder. When the lawsuit was admitted in April 2012, the court granted precautionary embargo measures against Lisa. Lisa filed preliminary exceptions, including prescription, which the court sustained in the January 26, 2021 order. That order, however, did not include an express directive to lift the precautionary measures.

Manuel Alberto Suc Tilom, Lisa's special judicial representative, filed a motion for amplification requesting that the order be completed with a directive to lift the measures, which he characterized as excessively burdensome for Lisa once prescription had been declared. The plaintiff was granted a two-day audience but did not respond.

Court's Analysis

The court grounded the amplification in Article 596, second paragraph, of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure, which permits amplification when the court has omitted ruling on a point at issue in the proceeding. Having declared prescription, which terminates the proceeding, the omission of any ruling on the precautionary measures constituted an unresolved point. The court determined that amplification was warranted to order the lifting of the measures.

Ruling

• The declarative portion of the January 26, 2021 order, specifically Roman numeral II, is amplified to read: "As a consequence of the foregoing, the precautionary measures granted within this proceeding are ordered lifted, with the corresponding official notices to be issued"
• All other provisions of that order remain in full legal force and effect

Legal Basis

• Article 596 of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure — basis for the amplification remedy when the court omits ruling on a point submitted for resolution
• Article 597 of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure — procedural requirements for the amplification remedy, including the two-day audience to the opposing party

Signatories

• Licda. Liliana Marlem Joaquín Castillo, Judge
• Jorge Alejandro Alvarado Ochoa, Clerk

Subsequent Proceedings

Reproductores Avícolas, S.A. appealed the first-instance ruling. The First Chamber of the Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals, on August 17, 2021, denied the appeal and affirmed the order in full, imposing costs on the appellant. The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, on December 15, 2023, dismissed the cassation appeal and confirmed the prescription ruling. Finally, the Constitutional Court, on August 1, 2024, denied the amparo as manifestly unfounded, leaving the dismissal of the damages claim and the lifting of precautionary measures against Lisa final and unassailable.