Venezuela Oil Unit Lawyers Swapped in $140 Million Terror Case

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and its subsidiaries will fight a Colombian man’s $140 million judgment over his father’s torture and death by narcotics traffickers with White & Case LLP lawyers, who were chosen by a board formed by the U.S.-recognized Venezuelan president, a federal court in New York ruled.

Attorneys aligned with de facto President Nicolás Maduro must be replaced, Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo said for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

Vilardo denied White & Case’s request for a four-month stay to allow the Biden Administration time to “solidify” its approach to the country. Another case involving Venezuela has been stayed for two years, with no change in the situation, so “a stay here would not accomplish anything other than delay,” he said.

Antonio Caballero alleged he fled Colombia for the U.S. after the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Columbia (FARC) seized his father’s strategically located land and kidnapped, tortured, and killed him, according to the complaint in the underlying case. He obtained a judgment of about $140 million plus post-judgment interest.

In this proceeding, Caballero is seeking to satisfy the judgment by obtaining assets of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA and its subsidiaries, arguing they’re instrumentalities of FARC.

White & Case asked to be substituted for attorneys Terrance P. Flynn and Marcos Daniel Jiménez, whom PDVSA retained. The U.S.-recognized president, Juan Guaidó, appointed a board that selected White & Case, according to the court.

“Under the political question doctrine, at least as far as the United States courts are concerned, the Guaidó government is the only legitimate government of Venezuela,” and its lawyers must defend the oil company from the judgment, Vilardo said May 11.

Zumpano Patricios represented Caballero.

The case is Caballero v. De Columbia, 2021 BL 174886, W.D.N.Y., No. 20-MC-40, 5/11/21.