Overview
- The Supreme Court of Mendoza, which on Tuesday rejected Manaos’s bid for a federal extraordinary appeal to Argentina’s top court, left standing an order to pay ARS 807,676,293.72 to a former salesman.
- Judges ruled the man had been an employee since 2013 and said a 2018 “termination” deal only disguised his true role as a traveling salesman under a more favorable labor regime.
- Applying article 771 of the Civil and Commercial Code, the court lowered the interest rate and set about ARS 223.4 million as principal and ARS 584.2 million as interest.
- The ruling is immediately enforceable and gives Refres Now five business days to pay, with extra interest and forced collection if it does not deposit the money.
- The company can still lodge a last-resort complaint to the national Supreme Court, a rare path that does not pause payment, while Manaos also faces separate tax and fraud investigations reported by federal authorities.