Panama Arbitration Panel Rules in Favor of Foreign Property Buyers

A decision from a Panama arbitration panel upholds rights of foreign property buyers against local real estate developers.

Panama City, Panama ---- The Panama Center of Conciliation and Arbitration rendered an interesting decision regarding a purchase contract involving local companies as sellers and U.S.-resident foreign nationals as buyers of an apartment in Panama City. The decision is an exception to a string of abuses committed by local developers against foreign investors.

The economic group which developed and sold the residential apartment project and its individual architect as member of said economic group were condemned indistinctly to pay to the foreign promissory buyers the price of the property plus interest until the actual day of its payment, as remedies for damages caused by the defendants for an unilateral breach of the contract, with bad faith being found in their behavior.

The promissory sellers failed to communicate the promissory buyers when the construction of the project began in order to collect the second installment of the purchase price of a condo unit, as required by a promise contract which only stated “second payment must be made 30 days after construction begins”.

Instead, the sellers disposed of the condo unit and sold it to a third party –when the promissory buyers were on time to make the second payment. The promissory buyers later received a letter from the developer informing of their unilateral decision to end the contract because payments were not received in a timely manner which allowed for early termination. The developer offered to return the deposits only if the promissory buyers signed a liability waiver.

Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia in Panama served as legal counsel for the promissory buyers. The legal team of the firm included Guadalupe Martinez-Casas, an attorney with experience in international arbitration cases before fora such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Ms. Martinez-Casas is a foreign law consultant in Argentine law, who previously served as attorney at the Buenos Aires firm of Llerena & Asociados. She is a graduate of Universidad Latina de Panamá (MBA), Universidad Torcuato di Tella (LLM and Economics), and Universidad de Buenos Aires - UBA (LLB).

About Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia
Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia was created as an alternative for clients worldwide who seek fast, innovative and effective solutions to their legal problems. The firm currently provides services to individual and corporate clients in Panama as well in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its partners maintain a commitment with professional ethics and social responsibility by participating in the board of directors of groups such as the Panama Bar Association, the German and the American Chambers of Commerce (AMCHAM) of Panama, and the Association of Chinese-Panamanian Professionals (APROCHIPA).

The firm centers its law practice in private client services and asset protection (Private Interest Foundations, Trusts), business structures (Offshore Corporations), tax planning, real estate and e-commerce. It also advices in areas of Law such as Corporate, Commercial, Intellectual Property, Maritime, Tax, and Immigration Law as well as related litigation that may arise.

For more information, contact +507 340-6444, +507 66388707, e-mail aaguilar (at) nysbar.com, or see: Lombardi Aguilar & Garcia http://www.laglex.com/

Keywords: Panama, real estate, property, investment, litigation


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