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US Court rules in favor of Ecuador in trial against the Isaias brothers
Posted On 28 Dec 2017
Ecuadornews:
The Court of Appeals of the Third District of the State of Florida reversed the sentence of October 15, 2015 issued by Judge John W. Thornton of the Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade County (Florida) that had rejected the lawsuit raised by the ex AGD against the brothers Roberto and William Isaias Dassum.
The Court of Appeals, welcoming the arguments presented by the Ecuadorian defense, reversed the conclusions that substantiated the decision of the Court of First Instance, resolving instead that the process returns to the first instance only to determine the damages in favor of the State.
Ecuador, in consideration of the fact that, in application of the Doctrine of State Acts, Ecuador is not obliged to prove the responsibility of the Isaiah Brothers with respect to the losses suffered by Filanbanco. The prosecutor explained that “the Court of Appeals reversed the wrong decision of first instance on the alleged lack of legitimacy of the Ecuadorian State, represented by the PGE considering that the Isaiah Brothers, did not argue at the appropriate procedural moment lack of legitimacy, accepting the intervention of the Republic of Ecuador as successor of the Deposit Guarantee Agency “.
Regarding the statute of limitations, the PGE explains, “the Court of Appeals establishes that the responsibility of the Isaias Brothers began on July 8, 2008, the date on which Resolution 12 of the exAGD that ordered the seizure of property assets was issued. of the Isaiah Brothers to satisfy the debt identified in favor of the AGD.
In this way, the Court of Appeals ruled that the judge of first instance violated the Doctrine of State Acts, when he declared the statute of limitations without taking into account that the former AGD’s decision was an act of State.” Diego García, Attorney of the State, pointed out that this is a “decision in which the legal position of Ecuador has prevailed again because this is the second occasion in which the Florida Court of Appeals reverses a Judge John Thornton’s ruling, allowing so that the process advances to a fundamental decision that resolves the claims of Ecuador “.
As a result of this ruling, the process will return to the court of first instance and will be known by Judge William Thomas, under a recent change of judges. This process against Brothers William and Roberto Isaías was initiated by the exAGD on April 29, 2009, and the PGE subsequently assumed the defense on behalf of the Ecuadorian State. (I)
