OP ED: “JB”

Biggest JOKE ever that PANAMA MEDIA is asleep at the wheel, and my stupid ass has to keep turning the kitchen lights on.

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Turtle Beach Hacienda Corporation sued PH Red Frog Beach Club and OGI, before Bocas del Toro Circuit Judge. Turtle claims that OGI’s meeting dated March 31, 2021 is null and void.

Ancillary to said lawsuit, the judge issued a precautionary measure addressed to the Public Registry, whereby the Registry must not register minutes of said 2021 meeting, FOR THE DURATION OF THE CASE.

Before the sentencing, owners met, voted by majority and decided to rescind, nullify, leave with out effect and revoke said 2021 meeting. Therefore, Turtle filed a motion stating that the meeting existed no more and as a consequence claimed that an unhibitory ruling should be issued. The judge rejected the motion and both the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court upheld the decision.

Then, Turtle and PH Red Frog Beach filed a settlement and release agreement for the Bocas judge’s approval. This is a partial settlement because OGI was not a party to the settlement agreement.

Paragraph 3 of said settlement states as follows:

*“The PARTIES agree that the Assembly of Property Owners held on March 31, 2021, of PH Red Frog Beach Club, and the decisions made therein by the owners, have ceased to exist by the will of the owners, who have rescinded, annulled, revoked, and/or rendered them ineffective. Therefore, considering that the subject of the present dispute is the nullity of said Assembly, the PARTIES agree, through this settlement, that the subject of the dispute no longer exists and, as a consequence, the legal phenomenon of mootness (sustracción de materia) has occurred, resulting in the termination of the proceedings with respect to the parties to this settlement.”

Said settlement was APPROVED by the judge. To repeat: WAS APPROVED BY THE JUDGE.

Under Panama law, issues settled cannot be brought again to court. Hence, even if the board of directors of PH Red Frog Beach changes, PH Red Frog Beach cannot bring again the issues of the case against Turtle and vice versa . For the parties to the settlement, the OGI’s march 31st, 2021 meeting was rescinded by the owners and ceased to exist.

After the approval of the partial settlement, the judge issued the ruling deciding that the facts of the lawsuit were not proved and, therefore, regarding OGI, dismissed the lawsuit and sentenced Turtle to pay 5k in legal fees to OGI.

An appeal was filed on behalf of Turtle, and PH Red Frog Beach also filed an appeal against this decision. The main argument of the appeal is the following:

The res judicata effect produced by the settlement and by the ruling that approves said settlement must extend to Oceans Group International, as mandated by Articles 1085 and 1086 of the Judicial Code, which state:

“Article 1085. If the settlement pertains only to certain issues or only with respect to certain parties, the proceedings may continue within the same case file as to matters not covered by the settlement. The ruling issued in the event of a partial settlement shall only affect the rights defined by the settlement.”

“This provision does not apply in cases where the judgment must be uniform with respect to the different plaintiffs, in which case the settlement shall not be valid unless it is jointly executed by all of them.”

The annulment, rescission, or revocation of the act challenged by the complaint, through an Assembly of Property Owners that rendered it ineffective, was the subject of the settlement and of the ruling that approved said settlement. Therefore, the proceedings cannot continue with respect to the challenged act, because the settlement and the ruling that approves it confirm that the act contested in the complaint has ceased to exist.
“Article 1086. A settlement that is judicially approved has enforceable authority, in accordance with the provisions of Article 1613 of this Code. The ruling that approves a settlement terminates the litigation and constitutes res judicata with respect to the matters covered therein.”

The ruling that approved the settlement brought the litigation to an end and constitutes res judicata, as provided by the above-cited rule, with respect to the core issue subject to the settlement approved by the lower court. That core issue is none other than the extinguishment of the challenged act, by decision of the property owners’ assembly, and such extinguishment results in a situation of mootness, which is the basis for a dismissal ruling on grounds of lack of subject matter.

The appeal has not being decided yet. The appeal decision can be challenged before the supreme court. This latter challenge could take a year or so.

As a consequence, the decision issued by the Bocas Judge approving the settlement is final and it DOES NOT AFFIRM THE LEGALITY OF OGI’S MARCH 31ST, 2021 MEETING, instead it decides that said meeting was nullified by the owners through a majority vote in an ulterior meeting of owners. AND THE SETTLEMENT THAT REVOKES OGIS 2021 BOARD AND THE RESOLUTION THAT APPROVES THE SETTLEMENT ARE OBLIGATORY, BINDING AND FINAL FOR PH RED FROG BEACH, REGARDLESS OF WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD.

The precautionary measure is still in place, as the appeal freezes the effects of the appealed ruling. Having said this, the precautionary measure prevents OGI from registering its 2021 meeting, not the 2025 meeting.

Regarding any criminal lawsuit for spending PH Red Frog Beach Club monies in the above mentioned case, said spending was ratified by the owners meeting as it was recognized that Turtle acted as ex oficio agent of PH Red Frog, as the latter was not able to act as both claimant and defendant. In addition, said spending took place some 10 years ago; therefore, the statute of limitations has come into play, as any criminal or civil action regarding said monies is time barred.

It is understood that OGI’S game is to tell you: “I won the court case“, “You guys committed a crime“, “You guys will have to pay damages“. It is all false statements. ( if they want money give them “FROG COINS” ). There is no crime no damages to pay, as the owners ratified the action filed by Turtle as ex oficio agent and PH RED FROG signed a settlement and release agreement in favor of Turtle, which was approved by the judge. DONT LET AGENTS FROM THE DEVELOPER BULLY YOU FOR ANOTHER 20 YEARS.

OGI has made millions from charging exorbitant fees for electricity, while blatantly breaching Panama energy sector law by operating without a concession and a tariff approved by ASEP, the energy sector watchdog  Those millions have kept afloat a real estate developer that recently was 14million indebted with Global Bank.

A resolution was obtained from ASEP, the energy sector regulator, stating that OGI must take its hands off the energy sector and gives EDECHI 12 months to put in place the infrastructure required in order to provide electricity to PH RED FROG BEACH RESIDENTS at 0.20 per Kw/hour, not the crazy 0.90 approximately per Kw/hour charged by OGI. There are talks with EDECHI and they have admitted they will comply.  But YOU MUST CONTROL THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN ORDER TO STRIKE A DEAL WITH EDECHI. IF OGI CONTROLS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, THIS BOARD WILL BLOW UP ANY POTENTIAL DEAL WITH EDECHI, IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO CHARGE AROUND A $1,000/MONTH TO EACH RESIDENT, WHILE THE REST OF THE COUNTRY PAYS 200/month.

During the corrupt Cortizo government, ASEP issued a “wish wash” resolution stating that OGI was acting against the law but could negotiate electricity tariffs with residents, but I filed a 7million dollar appeal in excess fees charged by OGI against said resolution before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court swiftly admmited and served the lawsuit to ASEP, but OGI intervened and in fear appealed the admission trying to avoid the 7MM dollar lawsuit, but the Supreme Court rejected OGIs appealed and will now hear the case. Court clerks forecast that the lawsuit will soon prosper. This case I am handling on a contingency fee of 25% of recovered amounts, as many of the residents did not want to pay up front legal fees. THE OWNERS ALLOW THE OTHER LAWYER POWER OF ATTORNEY TO JOIN THIS CLAIM WILL GET BETWEEN 5 HIGH to 6 LOW FIGURES IN ABUSIVE TARIFFS REIMBURSED. ALL ARE ENCOURAGED  TO JOIN AS IT WILL SHOW THE JUSTICES THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED. FIND ATTACHED A COPY OF THE LAWSUIT AND ITS TRANSLATION.

Banks are entitled to take over the management of real estate projects with ZERO liquidity If this happens to OGI, all VICTIMS will better have control over the board of directors.