Esta ley enmienda la Regla 43.3 de las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil de 1979 para establecer un término de diez (10) días de estricto cumplimiento para notificar a las partes sobre una moción de determinaciones de hechos adicionales. El propósito es aclarar la confusión procesal y las controversias relacionadas con el término para notificar dichas mociones, asegurando la diligencia y economía de los procedimientos judiciales.
(Approved November 16, 2002)
To amend Rule 43.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979 in order to establish a ten (10) day term of strict compliance to notify the parties about a motion of additional findings of fact.
Rule 43.3 is drawn from Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The purpose of this rule is to facilitate to the appeals forum understanding the issues in fact that the instant forum has determined and that are the basis for its conclusions of law. Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, IX A, sec. 2581, page 544, West, (1995). On the other hand, said motion also has the effect of interrupting the time/term to appeal by virtue of Rule 43.4 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979.
Our Rule 43.3, supra, clearly provides that a motion for additional findings of facts shall be filed no later than ten (10) days after a copy of the notice of the judgment is filed in the record of the case. However, it does not mention anything as to the term to notify the parties. This matter has caused procedural confusion and controversies that had to be clarified by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. Recently, in Sucesión Jiménez v. Pérez Cirino, Op. March 5, 2002, 2001 T.S.P.R. 28, the Supreme Court dealt with a controversy related to the term to notify a motion pursuant to Rule 43.3. Based upon the norm of Ragales v. E.L.A., 97 T.S.P.R. 144, the Court
concluded that due to lack of legislation establishing a jurisdictional term to notify the parties of a motion for findings of fact, the same term for filing the motion in court shall be applied. Said term imposed by the Supreme Court shall be of strict compliance, for which the judge may grant an extension of time upon just cause. If it were jurisdictional, such as filing the motion in court, it would inhibit the judge to solve it, thus eliminating any procedural effect, such as the interruption of the term/time to appeal. See Wurster Enterprises v. ARPE, 2001 T.S.P.R. 96, page 4; Jorge E. Martínez, Inc., v. Abijoe Realty Corp., 2000 T.S.P.R. 73; Rojas v. Axtmayer Enterprises, Inc., 2000 T.S.P.R. 46; Arriaga Rivera v. Fondo del Seguro del Estado, 98 J.T.S. 28, page 688. In other words, the Supreme Court establishes that the term to file is jurisdictional, and the term to notify is strict.
Full compliance with the terms and the actions taken in the notifications, both to the court and to the parties, involve the governing principles of the economy of the proceedings, of a fair, fast and economic solution of the process. See Rule 1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979. On many occasions, by mistake or oversight, a party is not notified on time. The judge is forced, once the party is duly notified, to grant additional time to reply to the affected party, if such is the case. Obviously, this affects the diligence and consideration of the cases, thus affecting the judicial calendar and the economy of the proceedings.
The purpose of this Act is to establish the term to notify the parties of a Motion for Additional Findings of Facts, which being of strict compliance, the court may grant an extension of time upon just cause. Therefore, the party affected by a judgment shall have clearly established the term to notify the other parties. The party to be notified shall not be affected by a late
notification, and the economy of the proceedings of our justice system is protected.
Section 1.- Rule 43.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979 is hereby amended to read as follows: "Rule 43.3- Amendments or initial or additional determinations It shall not be necessary to request that findings of facts be consigned for the purposes of an appeal, but upon the motion of a part, filed not later than ten (10) days after a copy of the notice of the judgment is filed in the record of the case, the court make take the corresponding initial findings of facts or conclusions of law, if they were not made because they were not necessary, pursuant to Rule 43.2, or may amend or make additional determinations, and may amend the judgment accordingly. The motion may be joined with a motion to reconsider or for a new trial, pursuant to Rules 47 and 48 , respectively. In any case, the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings may be raised subsequently, even though the party raising the issue has not objected to them in the lower court, or has not filed a motion to amend them, or has not filed for a judgment.
The motion for additional findings of facts shall be notified to the other parties in the case within the same ten (10) days established by this Rule to file it in Court. The term to notify shall be of strict compliance.
Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 267 (H.B. 1894) of the $4^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend Rule 43.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979 in order to establish a ten (10) day term of strict compliance to notify the parties about a motion of additional findings of fact, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $13^{ ext {th }}$ of August of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director