Radamés A. (Rudy) Torruella

E-mail address:  rat@mcvpr.com
Phone number:  (787) 250-5679
Fax number:  (787) 759-2769

Radamés (Rudy) A. Torruella joined the law firm in 1967 as a law clerk, and in 1969 became an associate attorney in the Labor and Employment Law Department. Since 1974, he has been a partner in the Department, now Practice Group. He chaired the Department for 20 years. He also has served on the firm's Practice Management, and both its Executive and Policy Committees.

Practice Areas

Since he started practicing law, he has dedicated himself almost exclusively to the field of labor and employment law. His practice has been concentrated on discrimination and sexual harassment, litigation in local and federal courts, collective bargaining, administration and interpretation of collective bargaining agreements, arbitration, labor injunctions, immigration and both local and federal wage and hour matters. He has also handled legislative and government matters.

He has been the spokesman and legal advisor in well over 100 collective bargaining negotiations representing management in over 40 years. He has also acted as legal counsel in the administration, interpretation and application of dozens of collective bargaining agreements, including the handling of hundreds of arbitration cases and employee and union grievances. Mr. Torruella has also acted as legal advisor for management and has negotiated numerous employment termination agreements of high level executives.

He has used alternate dispute resolution vehicles to reach agreements with the opposing party. He has acted as a mediator, bringing parties to an agreement in a negotiated settlement. He has offered numerous seminars on labor and employment law subjects for the Puerto Rico Manufacturers' Association, the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), for the Employers' Committee of the Department of Labor of Puerto Rico, among other organizations as well as for many clients of the firm.

Education

He did his undergraduate work at the Wharton School of Business and Finance of the University of Pennsylvania and at the Interamerican University from where he obtained a Bachelor in Arts in Economics Summa Cum Laude in 1966. He obtained a Juris Doctor from the Law School of the University of Puerto Rico in 1969.

Admissions

He is admitted to the practice of law in the Courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., New York State, the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the First and Eighth Circuits and the United States Supreme Court. He is certified by the Federal District Court for the District of Puerto Rico as a Mediator in the Court's Alternate Dispute Resolution Program.

Memberships

He is a member of the Puerto Rico Bar Association, the Association of Labor Relations Practitioners (Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands) which he presided between 1984-86, the Federal Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He was a member of the Labor Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources of Puerto Rico from 1985 to 1988 under then Governor Rafael Hernández Colón. In 1994, then Governor Pedro Rosselló named him to the Governor's Special Advisory Counsel to Study the Feasibility of Organizing Public Employees.

Representative Cases

During more than 35 years, Mr. Torruella has handled numerous litigation matters including oral arguments before Puerto Rico's Superior Court, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. He has also handled numerous cases, including oral arguments, before the Federal District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Among the many:

• Idali Echevarria v. The Shell Company (Puerto Rico) Ltd. - Before the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, successfully defended a multi-million dollar pregnancy and gender discrimination claim by a high company executive. The case culminated without the need to go to trial with the Plaintiff filing for voluntary dismissal with prejudice after Mr. Torruella took the Plaintiff's deposition during the course of three days. A judgment was issued by the federal court on December 4, 2006 dismissing all causes of action with prejudice.
• David Baez Portalatin, et al. v. Televicentro de Puerto Rico, LLC - Successfully defended before the Court of First Instance, Superior Court, Bayamon Part, and obtained a final favorable decision and opinion on April 20, 2007 before the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals. The decision dismissed the complaint and granted Televicentro's counterclaim for violation of the Separation Agreement. The case stemmed from a challenge to a Release and Waiver Separation Agreement executed by a high executive of the television station. Televicentro also obtained a favorable and final order from the Superior Court, upheld by the Court of Appeals, under the "tender back" clause of the Agreement.
• Alejandro Caban Hernandez et al. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc. et al. (Cir.1, 2007) - Successfully argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit the defense of a favorable Summary Judgement issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. The case entailed a challenge to a Release and Waiver Separation Agreement executed by three former employees of Philip Morris, as well as a number of issues related to the Court of Appeal's jurisdiction, compliance with local federal rules of procedure, the concept of whether the releases had been signed "knowingly and voluntarily," and other related issues of law. The Court of Appeal's opinion favored Philip Morris on all points and is dated May 1, 2007.
• Waldo Vazquez v. Lopez Rosario and the Puerto Rico Maritime Authority, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, 1998 - Successfully represented the Maritime Authority before the Federal District Court, obtaining summary judgment, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, obtaining affirmation of the district court's summary judgment. The law suit involved a former high-level official. He sued alleging that he was unjustly dismissal in violation of Puerto Rico law. He also claimed retaliation, violation of First Amendment rights, and political discrimination; the claim was for approximately $2 million.
• Alfonso Bru v. Trane Export Inc., 2001 DTS 129 (2001) - Successfully requested review before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court of a reversal by the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals had reversed an order issued by the trial court requiring Plaintiff to produce the documents related to an audit conducted by The Puerto Rico Treasury Department of Plaintiff's income tax returns. The case stemmed from allegations of unjust dismissal, age, and national origin discrimination. The Caribbean Area Manager of the company alleged approximately $2.5 million in damages, loss of income, and severance pay.
• Prinair v. Senator Nicolás Nogueras, et al. in 1976 in the U. S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the First Circuit wherein, in a case of first impression nationwide, injunctive relief was obtained against the Puerto Rico Legislature, the Labor Commission of the Senate of Puerto Rico, and its nine member senators, enjoining them from subpoenaing Prinair executives to force them to appear and testify before the Senate Labor Commission as to their strike contingence plan and related topics, thereby intervening with Prinair's federal collective bargaining rights during a strike by its pilots' union.
• De León v. Kimberly Clark, 105 D.P.R. 933 (1977) before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, a precedent setting case of first impression wherein the definition of a "commercial establishment" covered by Puerto Rico's Closing Law was established for the first time; coverage under the Closing Law establishes a number of employer obligations and employee rights.
• Odriozola v. Superior Cosmetics Distribution Corporation, 116 D.P.R. 485 (1985), a precedent setting case of first impression under Puerto Rico law on a number of issues under Puerto Rico's employment discrimination and workers' compensation statutes.
• Rodríguez v. Doral Mortgage, 57 F.3d 1168 (1st Cir. 1995) a sexual harassment case which Mr. Torruella successfully defended before the U. S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
• De Hoyos v. Bristol-Myers Squibb, 218 F. Supp 2d 222 (D. Puerto Rico 2002) a Family and Medical Leave Act case successfully defended before the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Other

Mr. Torruella served with the United States Army's 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) ("Green Berets") in Vietnam during the 1960's. He is an avid scuba diver, skier, star gazer, and a holder of an F.C.C. Extra Class Amateur Radio License with the call sign KP4RAT.