Investors/owners of Jamaca de Dios SRL and Aroma de la Montaña, E.I.R.L in Jarabacoa presented in a Florida international arbitration court a complaint against the Ministry of Environment and the Jarabacoa local government for rejecting their request to expand Jamaca de Dios, a residential and tourism project in Jarabacoa. In the case, Michael and Lisa Ballantine alleged that the Ministry of Environment and the City of Jarabacoa had wrongly refused them approvals needed to continue their development of the gated community in the Dominican Republic’s central mountain range.
In a new development in April, in its defense, the Dominican government has urged the Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal to toss-out the American couple’s US$41.5 million claim alleging the country obstructed their gated community’s ecotourism expansion, saying the couple used their Dominican nationality to avoid fees, but then played up their Florida connections to file the international claim under the DR-CAFTA free trade rules. The defense argues that arbitrators lack jurisdiction to consider the case because the couple acted as Dominican citizens when signing contracts, getting a loan and obtaining licenses for the development. Jamaca de Dios investments were in real estate and infrastructure to create a gated complex of luxury homes, restaurants, a hotel and spa.
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Italaw
17 April 2018
