Henry O. Freese-Souffront 

Mr. Freese-Souffront joined McConnell Valdés in 1998. For the past eleven years, he has focused a substantial part of his practice on Maritime and Admiralty law matters, including litigation and counseling on seamen personal injury claims, oil spills, U.S. Customs and Border Protection proceedings, groundings, allisions, collisions, wake damages cases, vessel arrest proceedings, cargo claims and general P&I Club defense.

Mr. Freese-Souffront has also focused his practice on public and private Construction law matters, including litigation and counseling on complex construction works like the Puerto Rico North Coast Superaqueduct Project.

Mr. Freese-Souffront also has experience defending termination and/or impairment claims brought by local distributors under Puerto Rico’s Act 75. And, he has successfully dismissed “whistle blower” claims brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Noted are his participation in the following cases:

• Sultán v. Pleasure Craft Contender 25', 139 F. Supp. 2d 230 (DPR)(dismissing mental anguish claims raised by parents and siblings of injured swimmer as incompatible with the general maritime law).
• MOAC v. Lilac Marine Corporation, 296 F.Supp.2d 91 (DPR)(finding that clients - steel bar seller and its insurer - were real parties in interest to bring COGSA claim against vessel owner, even though title to the goods had passed to buyer at port of loading, because seller had assumed buyer’s loss when it granted buyer price reductions as compensation for damage).
• Matosantos Commercial Corporation v. SCA Tissue North America, LLC, 369 F.Supp.2d 191 (DPR)(granting motions in limine to exclude plaintiff’s Act 75 expert report and finding evidence of pre-existing indemnity agreement inadmissible at jury trial).
• CPA Group International, Inc. v. American International Insurance Company of Puerto Rico, 202 WL 31944044 (DPR)(denying motion that sought to dismiss - under abstention grounds - the declaratory judgment complaint filed by clients in connection with multimillion dollar suit involving the North Coast Superaqueduct project).