Mendoza Supreme Court ruling impacts Villouta case statute of limitations

The Supreme Court of Justice of Mendoza has established a new legal criterion regarding the calculation of statutes of limitations, a decision that could overturn the dismissal of businessman Alejandro Verdenelli in the Alan Villouta case.

In a plenary session, a majority of four ministers ruled that the period for the statute of limitations on a sentence begins to run only after the Supreme Court rejects a federal extraordinary appeal (REF) and the defense is notified. This contradicts the previous interpretation used to dismiss Verdenelli, who was involved in a fatal 2017 accident. Under the new ruling, the clock for the Villouta case would have started in February of this year rather than in April 2020, potentially preventing the case from expiring.

In response to the legal developments, Mendoza legislator Lucas Ilardo introduced the ‘Alan Villouta Law’. The proposed legislation aims to eliminate bureaucratic delays by implementing a public alert system that notifies legislators, the media, and society when a case is approaching its statute of limitations, specifically at 12, 6, 3, 1, and 10-day intervals.