Gustavo A. Gelpí

E-mail address: gag@mcvpr.com
Phone number: (787) 250-5605
Fax number: (787) 759-2797

Gustavo A. Gelpí is Counsel in the Litigation Practice Group.

Practice Areas

Mr. Gelpí's practice has encompassed general civil matters and consultation, in areas ranging from simple matters to complex litigation in maritime, aviation, products liability, insurance, banking, commercial, insurance, bankruptcy and medical-hospital liability. He has had extensive litigation experience in federal, state and administrative forums.

Education

He holds a B.B.A from Temple University, a LL.B. from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, an LL.M. in Labor Law from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.

Admissions

Mr. Gelpí is admitted to practice before the courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (1963), the Supreme Court of the United States (1971), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1965), the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico (1965). He has also been admitted pro hac vice before other federal and state courts.

Memberships

He is a member of the Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico, the American Bar Association (Litigation, Insurance and Maritime Sections) , the Federal Bar Association , the Maritime Law Association (Proctor in Admiralty) and the Puerto Rico Association of Notaries.

Representative Cases

Mr. Gelpí has tried approximately 30 cases as sole counsel before the U.S. District Court and argued more than 15 cases before the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He has also argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Calero-Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 417 U.S. 663, 94 S. Ct. 2080 (1974).

He has also been trial counsel in different cases in the state courts and has argued two appeals before the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. He has successfully defended manufacturers in a variety of products liability cases before the U.S District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and State Superior Court. One such case was Castro v. Barnstead Thermolyne Corp., Civ. No. 95-2071, where the exclusion of plaintiff's expert testimony resulted in a verdict for the manufacturer.

Since 1978 he has represented the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in connection with various failed insured financial institutions in relation to complex legal and non litigation matters, such as purchase and assumption transactions, investigating and prosecuting claims for money damages against the directors and officers of the failed financial institutions, commercial transactions, liquidation of an ERISA regulated pension plan, secured transactions, bond claims, fraud claims, lenders liability claims and administrative proceedings before federal and state regulatory agencies.

He was counsel for the United Kingdom and the Republic of France when those countries had Consular offices in Puerto Rico.