The renown legal news company The National Law Review published an article by Attorney Eduardo A. Maura where he describes his recent experience while entering the U.S. from Mexico, and the scrutiny he was subject to by border agents. In the article, Maura describes the directives used by customs agents when searching individuals at the borders, and how vulnerable is the attorney-client privilege information…
The renown legal news website law360.com featured Ayala’s class action against LATAM Airlines. The lawsuit seeks to certify a class of plaintiffs whose flights were unilaterally cancelled by LATAM. In the Class Action Complaint, Plaintiffs allege that LATAM’s practice of cancelling consumer’s flights, when they cannot make one leg of their trip (the so called “no-show” policy), is unlawful and unjustly enriches LATAM at the…
The Daily Business Review published Berta Gonzalez’s article regarding service of process on a foreign company through its US branch. Gonzalez is a law clerk at the Ayala. The article addresses whether or not one can serve a foreign company through a US subsidiary, or does the costly and time-consuming process set by the International Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra Judicial…
The legal news site lexlatin.com published article in Spanish of attorney Eduardo A. Maura regarding the advantages and disadvantages for South American businesses of establishing a subsidiary in the United States. In the article, Maura highlights benefits such as access to the US courts, forum selection clauses, potential access to business visas, and strategic positioning in a reputable market such as the U.S. Disadvantages include…
In this part III of the “how can I protect my small business from lawsuits” articles, I focus on layering. What do I mean by layering? You can have, for example, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and you, the human, be the owner of 100% of it. That type of ownership structure will give you the least protection possible. The law treats this type of…
Ayala obtained a final Judgment for $63,350 dollars in Attorneys’ fees for its client, after having prevailed in a jury trial earlier this year. The underlying lawsuit alleged that Ayala’s client, the buyer of the Property, interfered in the relationship between the Plaintiff/Realtor and the Seller, not present in the case. After prior attempts to get the case dismissed for failure to join the party…
Ayala filed a lawsuit against American Airlines (“AA”) and Allianz Insurance for their role in the sale of what they label as “travel insurance” or “travel protection” product. As stated in the Class Action Complaint (“Complaint”): “[A] reasonable consumer would get the net impression that Allianz’s insurance provides broad, no-fault insurance protection and coverage, and that should one choose to purchase this insurance, one would…
Ayala filed a lawsuit against Exclusive Residences, a company that sells vacation and travel packages and that primarily targets innocent foreigner consumers. As stated in the Complaint: “At the heart of Miami’s exclusive Design District, in carefully designed offices that provide an appearance of luxury and glamour, run by well-dressed, articulate, and charming sales agents, there is a massive (and successful) fraudulent scheme targeting humble,…
After nearly three years of contentious litigation, Ayala obtains a confidential settlement for its client, a local Miami medical center. As reflected in public filings, both parties aggressively litigated the case almost to the eve of trial. “It was a very difficult case. We faced very talented counsel from one of the top firms in the world. In the end, we managed to develop a…
Shareholder disputes are unfortunately not uncommon. Partners start with plenty of enthusiasm and ideas, but little of these ideas are placed in concrete sentences, in a binding piece of paper. Let’s make this graphic but describing a situation we’ve faced with many clients through out the years. In a normal partnership, let’s say of two that are 50/50 in ownership, there is always one partner…
