A US$50 million default judgment has been reversed in favor of the Dominican Republic, as reported in law.com’s Daily Business Review. The case involves a US$51.8 million irrigation construction contract awarded in 2001 to Sun Land & RGITC LLC and Architectural Ingenieria Siglo XXI LLC (AIS). As reported, construction had begun in March 2004 but ran into several delays. Nearly five years later, the governmental hydraulic agency, Indrhi, terminated the contract, claiming force majeure because of difficulties financing the project. Sun Land and AIS sued Indrhi and the Dominican Republic in 2013, seeking breach-of-contract damages of more than US$50 million.
When the Dominican Republic and Indrhi failed to respond to the suit, the contractors were awarded the default judgment. Lawyers from the firm of Holland & Knight were contracted and convinced a Miami federal judge to reject most of the breach-of-contract claims filed by the two Miami construction companies.
In the event judgment was made against Indrhi who were said to owe damages of US$576,000 judgment to AIS, which was far less than the $30 million claimed against the defendants.
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Law
11 December 2018
