Mr. Saldaña-Román is a seasoned litigator with over 30 years of experience handling complex litigation, property and liability coverage disputes, and large-loss arbitration. He routinely serves as lead trial counsel and advises a variety of clients on all aspects of admiralty, insurance, reinsurance, products liability, professional liability, surety, construction and subrogation cases before federal and local courts and administrative fora.
As part of his practice, Mr. Saldaña-Román navigates clients through complex insurance claims involving catastrophic damages and associated business income loss related to hurricanes, flooding, fire, and other natural disasters.
Mr. Saldaña-Román successfully represented plaintiff’s mortgage holder in the seminal Carpets and Rugs case, where Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court addressed crucial insurance concepts, particularly regarding the adjustment of claims. See Carpets & Rugs v. Tropical Reps, 175 D.P.R. 615 (2009).
In an admiralty negligence action to recover damages sustained when a vessel caught fire, Mr. Saldaña-Román obtained a ruling in favor of his client after demonstrating at trial that plaintiff’s own negligence caused the subject accident. Additionally, he sought and was awarded attorney’s fees for his client, due to plaintiff’s noncompliance with required discovery. See Pan American Grain v. Puerto Rico Ports Authority, 2002 A.M.C. 1988 (1st Cir. 2002).
In an admiralty case where a shipper brought a claim to recover damages to cargo caused by its packaging, Mr. Saldaña-Román obtained summary judgment in favor of his client upon arguing that, under the Carriage of Goods at Sea Act, a carrier did not have a duty to assure the adequacy of the containers it provided to a shipper who packaged cargo, or to inspect cargo for packaging adequacy. See Cigna Ins. Co. of Puerto Rico v. M/V Skanderborg, 1996 A.M.C. 600 (D.P.R. 1995).
Mr. Saldaña-Román was also part of the team that effectively argued for summary judgment in favor of his client in an action against a bank and its fraud investigator, among others, where plaintiff alleged slander, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution after being acquitted of charges for unlawful appropriation and illegal use of credit and debit cards. In its opinion, the Court agreed with the team’s arguments that warning plaintiff that he would go to jail and should not listen to his attorney could not be used as a basis for a defamation claim; that an alleged threat that charges would be pressed if plaintiff left a meeting did not turn that meeting into an illegal detention insofar it did not obstruct plaintiff’s capacity to leave; and that when the authorities decide to file a criminal case after their own evaluation of the facts in question, the filers of the criminal complaint that initiated the process are not liable for malicious prosecution. See Segarra Jiménez v. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, 421 F. Supp. 2d 452 (D.P.R. 2006).
More recently, Mr. Saldaña-Román represented a D&O liability insurer in an action brought by the Chapter 7 Trustee against the former directors and officers of one of the largest law firms in the Commonwealth. Mr. Saldaña-Román was able to settle the firm’s insurance claim on advantageous terms for his insurer client. See In re Fiddler, González & Rodríguez, P.S.C.; Wiscovitch Rentas v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 19-01651 (WGY) (D.P.R. 2021).
Mr. Saldaña-Román is one of SCVR’s founding Shareholders and a co-founder of the firm’s predecessor, Saldaña & Carvajal, P.S.C. He is also a prolific writer. He authored the Puerto Rico chapter of the ABA’s “Discovery Across the Globe: Obtaining Evidence Abroad to Support U.S. Proceedings”, as well as a novel and several short story collections. Additionally, Mr. Saldaña-Román serves as Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of Denmark in Puerto Rico and Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of Sweden in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. In 2019, Her Majesty Margrethe II of Denmark bestowed upon him the Order of the Dannebrog.