MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US court upholds $390 million judgment against Argentina over Aerolíneas

The decisive legal point was the statute of limitations

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by Argentina and left standing the ruling that recognizes an arbitral award of $390,907,115 in favor of the fund Titan Consortium, over the 2008 expropriation of Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral Líneas Aéreas Cielos del Sur. The amount was calculated as of December 10, 2024, with subsequent interest to be added.

The ruling does not require immediate payment, but strengthens the fund's position in the enforcement process, allowing it to continue legal proceedings in the United States in search of Argentine assets against which to collect.

The decisive legal point was the statute of limitations. Argentina argued that a three-year period should apply, while the District Court had ruled in 2024 that the applicable period was twelve years. The appeals court upheld that reasoning and dismissed the country's request to throw out the claim.

The litigation dates back to the expropriation ordered under the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, when the airlines were controlled by Spain's Marsans group. In July 2017, an arbitral tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), part of the World Bank, ordered Argentina to pay some $321 million plus interest and costs. The country sought to annul that award, which became final in 2019.

The economic rights to the claim changed hands in the litigation-finance market. After the award, they passed to Britain's Burford Capital — the same firm behind the lawsuit over the renationalization of YPF — which in 2018 sold them to Titan Consortium for about $107 million. Because ICSID awards are not automatically enforceable, Titan petitioned US courts in 2021 for recognition of the award in order to pursue assets.

According to analyst Sebastián Maril, director of Latam Advisors, the decision also revives the Webuild case, which had been on hold pending this outcome.

Argentina's Treasury Attorney General's Office, responsible for the state's legal defense, said it is analyzing “all available legal tools to overturn or at least mitigate the impact of that ruling.” The agency attributed the origin of the case to decisions taken nearly two decades ago and to what it described as an inheritance of lost lawsuits, an assessment reflecting the current government's position on litigation begun under previous administrations.

The case adds to the series of proceedings Argentina faces in foreign courts over past expropriations and economic decisions, with potential implications for its assets abroad.