TOURISM INVESTMENTS-US OPEN AT TORRYE PINES - MISCELLANY

Miscellany.


1 .- http://www3.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=19556


Leonel Fernández announces tourism investments; subway. He plans a train from SD-Santiago, and he attracts tourism funds for $3,750 million euros from Balearic Islands.

BARCELONA, SPAIN. President Leonel Fernández announced here yesterday that a group of businessmen in the Balearic Islands that already have resorts in the Dominican Republic seeks to invest $3,750 million euros in the tourism sector over the next four years.

The President, who returns today to the country after more than a week stay in Europe, shared the information with members of the community of Dominicans living in Catalonia.

In addition, Fernández reported its intention to build a train similar to the AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) (Spaniard High Speed Spanish) to connect the Capital city with Santiago. "We will make a little AVE from Santiago to Santo Domingo," said the governing official, who spoke also of the second line of the Metro (subway) of Santo Domingo, according to the news agency EFE.

The Government awaits for the return of Fernández at 4:00 pm at Aeropuerto Internacional de Las Américas (International Airport of the Americas), on a commercial flight of Iberia.


In Diario Libre.
June 9, 2008.

2 .- Law on Protected Areas; Foreign Investment - Protection of Foreign Investment in the real estate area. The lawsuit brought by the State against various investors in the area known as the Reserva Natural (Nature Reserve), of the so-called Parque del Este (Park of the East), will soon be in a state of being ruled. The case is in a state of being ruled when the parties present their closing arguments and the deadlines given by the court have passed so those arguments can be changed, clarified or supplemented. For those deadlines, usually, the parties come through with writings using quotes from doctrine, ie from specialists and specialized books in the area, as well as jurisprudence on the subject. We hope to keep our readers informed about this case, especially commenting on the verdict of the Court in charge when it has been rendered.

3.- Will or formation of joint stock company in the purchase of properties by foreigners? This is an issue that occurs frequently in cases involving foreign investors with the awarding of their property by a will in their home country. It is an interesting dilemma from the legal standpoint, because it raises the question for resolving the distribution of property in the event of death.

In our practice we always advise to find the correct answer to avoid lab or routine solutions, because they generally are impractical. The legal practice usually dictates the way forward. In other words, "the tactic dictates the strategy."

One of the solutions we give to this case, far from the traditional solution of drawing up a will, is considering to constitute a joint stock company. This is a practical solution and quite adequate for the planning or disposition or transfer of real estate property due to death.

It's a good solution, because in our country one who dies and leaves testamentary dispositions is obliged to receive a sanction or resolution of the court (Tribunal de Tierras) (Lands Court) for ordering the execution of the act, and to provide for the issue of a new certificate of title. This is a tedious process, and it requires the payment of the required taxes.

In the case of a company, if it is provided that either the real estate property can be transferred to the company and its governing board is organized with due care, the successors/inheritors/heirs -in the event of death- can take control of the company and, hence, of the real estate property, avoiding legally, in most cases, the complicated legal procedures and the payment of transfer taxes. This is an issue that requires an extreme care and an legal engineering reserved for highly-experienced lawyers in the area, and therefore, we recommend to consult these options with a lawyer of prestige before making a decision.

4.- As you know, our blog is about matters of legal interest, but in the global world of today the lawyers enjoy life, and we do things common to ordinary people. In our case, we are quite fond of golf and movies. So we would like to comment on some news of both worlds.

5 .- In the realm of golf, as in most sports, the primacy belongs to the professionals and the young athletes. However, in the PGA Tour there has happened a very interesting phenomenon, and that is that after the victories of Trevor Immelman at Augusta and Adam Scott and Boo Weekly and Sergio García, the tour has been dominated in the past three weeks by veteran players such as left-handed Phil Mickelson at the Colonnial, finishing dramatically, as the saying goes, with the Mickelson style. Then Kenny Perry, nearly 48-year-old, won the prestigious Memorial, and this week we have a veteran like Justin Leonard winning the St. Jude. This is good for the world of golf since -as any discipline- it requires a good balance between the generations to make the competitions much more interesting. While some argue that the departure of Tiger due to his knee injury is what has made the competition more interesting. In our view, this is not true, as these veterans have enough quality to compete even with Tiger Woods on the battlefield.

6.- Numb and The Bucket List. Both films are very interesting, and they deal with two issues which human beings have to face inevitably: health and love. In the first film, Numb, we were really surprised with the acting of Mathew Perry beyond his traditional role as a comedy actor. A film that has a strong content on personality disorders, but it has a solid plot as its base: the triumph of will over adversity. It is interesting to see how the film suggests that not only to take medicines helps people with personality disorders to survive, but the will and, above all, love. Wonderful film.


7 .- The Bucket List was not a surprise, because from Nickolson and Morgan Freeman we always expect high-level films. However, the interesting thing about the film –much more than the outstanding performances- is the theme about the purpose of life. The fact that death clearly brings us closer to the things that we really want. It gives us the great lesson of whether we should wait until we are in danger of dying to find the things that we want from life.

We hope that you can enjoy these films if you have not seen them, and I also hope that anyone of you could further be encouraged to send me your comments on your favorites players to win the U.S. Open this week because, with Tiger coming back from a knee operation, the odds are against him. We believe that, with the quality of play of Sergio García, Mickelson, Perry and Trevor Inmelman, they should be among the favorites to win.