The appeals court in Medellin (Sala Civil Tribunal Superior de Antioquia) finally, after 25 years, admitted that we were not at fault and that, indeed, we were owed the transportation and other fees overturning the lower court's 13-years-after-the-fact decision which was comletely against us and had even ordered us to pay for the costs of the judicial process and attorney fees for the defendants.
The appeals court also went out of its way to invent an alleged obligation on our part claiming that we were required by law to dispose of the cargo 30 days after non-payment and accused us of negligence. Our appeal to the Colombian Supreme Court, Justice Copete Valencia's is the lead Justice on the appeal, includes the legal analysis done by Universidad de los Andes Maritime Law professor Ricardo Velez, shows that the law does not impose an obligation on the carrier to sell the goods nor is there any jurisprudence willing to go along with the Court of Appeals' legal fiction; the true intent was to reduce the amount of damages to an amount of less than $100,000 dollars. Perverse.
Our appeal to the Supreme Court also detailed why the parties had accepted the multimodal transportation contract (the Colombian government agency knew every step pf the way of the cargo on its way, the Cash on Delivery stipulation of the contrcat their agent signed, and even gave us a check which bounced; how can they then claim they didn't accept the contract?
Again our contract included the USA Clause Paramount which means that the contract was valid under US law as the shipment originated from Tampa. The law also states:
The Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of Congress also reads, in part:
§ 1304. Rights and immunities of carrier and ship
Neither the carrier nor the ship shall be responsible for loss or damage arising or resulting from--
i. Act or omission of the shipper or owner of the goods, his agent or representative
Enough. The never ending saga of Colombian government corruption and criminality continues.
The legal analysis of Dr. Ricardo Velez can be viewed here:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddjd6f6x_183g34kzzf9
Yolanda de Zakzuk
and family
6/17/09
