Joseph A. DeMaria and Alejandro Miyar were featured in the Daily Business Review article, "One Lawyer's Take: American Courts Not the Place for Spats Between Foreigners. Judge Agrees in This Case." Full text can be found in the September 9, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is below.
A Miami-Dade Circuit judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Venezuelan energy company Derwick Associates Corp. and two of its leaders for lack of jurisdiction.
A Venezuelan-born Miami human rights blogger had sued Derwick in 2013 after articles he was writing about the company for Forbes and The Huffington Post were quashed, alleging that a letter sent by Derwick's attorney defamed him and damaged his relationship with the publications.
Derwick argued that the letter simply asked the news outlets to allow leadership of the company a chance to comment and to save communications related to the posts in case of litigation.
The dismissal of the case further supports the idea that arguments between Venezuelans should not be solved in U.S. courts, said Derwick's attorney Joseph A. DeMaria.
"Jurisdiction should be limited, and these cases shouldn't be here," said DeMaria. "Are the Florida courts and the Florida taxpayers supposed to [provide] the courthouses for the world?"
"Hopefully, we're finally getting to the end of this chapter of defamation cases that have been going back and forth since 2012," DeMaria said.
Derwickand two of its leaders, Alejandro Betancourt and Pedro Trebbau, were represented by Joseph A. DeMaria and Alejandro Miyar.
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