Esta ley enmienda las Reglas 53.1 y 68.3 de las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil de 1979 para aclarar cómo se calculan los términos para presentar recursos de apelación y certiorari. Establece que cuando la fecha de radicación de la copia de la notificación de una sentencia, resolución u orden sea diferente a la fecha de envío por correo de dicha notificación, el término para presentar el recurso comenzará a contarse a partir de la fecha de envío por correo. Esto busca proteger el derecho de las partes al debido proceso legal y a la igual protección de las leyes, asegurando que tengan el tiempo adecuado para preparar y presentar sus recursos apelativos.
(Approved March 27, 2004)
To amend Rules 53.1 and 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979, as amended, to establish that the terms that are calculated from the filing of a copy of the notice of the judgment, resolution or order, shall commence to run when the service of process, resolution or order is mailed, when this date is different from the filing date.
Act No. 40 of January 10, 1999, amended Rule 46 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979, with regard to service and filing of decisions. The scope of the amendment introduced by Act No. 40, supra, is hereby clarified with regard to the notices of court orders that generate terms of jurisdiction or strict compliance.
Act No. 40, supra, only amended Rule 46 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, excluding other provisions of the same legal statute that remain unaltered and contain the classic language that an appellant shall have thirty (30) days to resort to the remedy of appeal, counted from the filing of the notice of the judgment, resolution or order issued by the appellate court.
In Martínez vs. Abijoe, 2000 P.R.S.C. 73, the Honorable Supreme Court of Puerto Rico stated the following with regard to the abovementioned Act No. 40: "It is evident that the amendment introduced does not vary the general rule and its content, but rather deals with the way the term is computed. [sic] In good legislative drafting technique, it should have been
placed in Rule 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure." Rules 46, 53.1 and 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure in effect, impose on the clerks of the courts the imperative responsibility to serve the judgment, resolutions or orders issued by the Court as soon as possible, filing a copy of the service of judgment and the evidence of due notice.
Given the obligatory nature of the jurisdictional term of appeal, as is that of other special recourses, the prompt and correct notice to the parties of any judgment, resolution or court order that generates such terms is essential. The failure of the court clerks with regard to the prompt and correct notice, affects compliance of the Rules concerning the simultaneousness of the notifications and the general rules to achieve the simultaneous filing in the records and the notice to the parties concerned.
The Supreme Court in the cases of Figueroa Rivera vs. the Superior Court, 85 D.P.R. 82 (1962) and Rodríguez Negrón vs. Morales García, 105 D.P.R. 877 (1977) indicated that the delay in the notification will not defeat the right to appeal. Furthermore, in Canales vs. Converse de P.R., Inc., 129 D.P.R. 786, 790 (1992), and in Vda. De Carmona vs. Carmona, 93 D.P.R. 140 (1966), it was stated that: ... that in the event that due to the negligence of any court clerk the best practices are not adhered to, then it shall be understood that same was filed and the term commenced to run on the date that the notice was issued to the parties [...]." Thus as, with the evident intention to protect the rights of the party thus effected by the delay in the notification."
These decisions of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, and Rules 46, 53.1 and 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure in effect, in general practice, have the result of confusing and reducing the terms established for motions for appeal, which as a rule, run as of the filing of a copy of the notice of the
ruling. This situation affects the constitutional rights of due process of law and equal protection of the laws that the parties have to file their appellate recourses, which, by the way, require the drafting of writs that must be carefully done, following strict format requirements. It should not be left at the discretion of the appellate courts whether there was or not, justification for one of the aggrieved parties to count the term from the date of the Post Office cancellation stamp, if it is different from the date that the copy of the notice was filed in the record, since in this way noncompliance of the Rules is rewarded, and the parties are at the mercy of the interpretation of the Court.
Therefore, it is the duty of this Legislature to clarify the scope of the terms established in Rules 53.1 and 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, and said rules are hereby amended to ensure full compliance of the Rules and the terms provided to file remedies of appeal.
Section 1.- Subsections
(c) ,
(d) and clauses 1, 2 and 3 and subsection
(h) of Rule 53.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure in effect, are hereby amended to read as follows:
(a) ...
(b) ...
(c) Terms for filing the writ of appeal. The appeal shall be filed in the form filed above, within the jurisdictional term of thirty (30) days counting from the date of filing the copy of the notice of judgment issued by the respondent court of record on the case. If the date of filing the copy of the notice of judgment in the record, is different from the mailing date of said notice, the
term shall be calculated from the date of mailing. In those cases in which the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its officials or one of its instrumentalities other than a public corporation, or the municipalities of Puerto Rico are parties in a case, the writ of appeal shall be filed by any party to the case injured by the judgment, by filing a bill of appeal as provided above within the jurisdictional term of sixty (60) days counting from the filing of a copy of the notice of the judgment rendered by the respondent court. If the date of filing of the copy of the notice of judgment is different from the mailing date of said notice, the term shall be calculated from the mailing date.
(d) Writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court (1) The writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court, to discretionally review, the judgments or resolutions of the Court of Appeals in remedies of appeal shall be filed at the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court within the jurisdictional term of thirty (30) days counted from the date of filing of a copy of the notice of the appealed judgment in the records. If the date of filing the copy of the notice of judgment is different from the mailing date of said notice, the term shall be figured from the mailing date.
In those cases in which the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its officials, or any of its instrumentalities that is not a public corporation, or the municipalities of Puerto Rico are a part, the writ of certiorari to review, discretionally, the judgments or resolutions issued of the Court of
Appeals, in remedies of appeals shall be filed in the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, by any party to the action by the judgment, within the jurisdictional term of sixty (60) days counting from the date a copy of the notice of the appealed judgment is filed in the records. If the date of filing of the copy of the notice of the judgment is different from the mailing date of said notice, the term shall be figured as of the date it is mailed. (2) The writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court to discretionally review the final judgments or resolutions issued by the Court of Appeals in writs of certiorari of the judgment rendered in proceedings of voluntary jurisdiction shall be filed at the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court within the jurisdictional term of thirty (30) days counted from the date of filing the copy of the notice in the record of the appealed judgment in the record of the case. If the date of filing the copy of the notice of the judgment or resolution is different from the mailing date of said notice, the term shall be calculated as of the date it is mailed. (3) The writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court to review all other final judgments or resolutions of the Court of Appeals in discretionary petitions shall be filed at the Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court within the term of thirty (30) days from the date the copy of the notice of the appealed judgment is filed in the record of the case. If the date of filing the copy of the notice of judgment in
this record is different from the mailing date of said notice, the term shall be calculated from the date of the mailing. The term provided herein is of strict compliance, and shall only be extended under special circumstances duly grounded in the writ of certiorari.
(e) ... (1) ... (2) ... (3) ... (4) ...
(f) $\ldots$ ・.
(g) ... (1) ... (2) ... (3) ... (4) ...
(h) Stay of the term to file a writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court. The term to file a writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court of a judgment or final resolution of the Court of Appeals shall be stayed by the timely filing of a motion for reconsideration pursuant to the provisions of Rule 47. Said term shall begin to run anew upon the filing of a copy of the notice of the resolution or judgment of the Court of Appeals finally resolving the motion to reconsider. If the date of filing the copy of the notice of judgment is different from the mailing
date of said notice, the term shall be figured from the mailing date.
(i) $\ldots$
(j) $\ldots$
(k) ...
(l) $\ldots$ (1) $\ldots$ (2) $\ldots$ (3) $\ldots$ (4) $\ldots$
Section 2.- Rule 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure in effect, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Rule 68.3.- Additional time when served by mail Whenever a party is entitled to, or is required to perform any action within a specific term after having been served a notice or other writ and the notice or writ is served by mail, three (3) days shall be added to the prescribed period, except that it shall not apply to the terms that are counted from the filing in the record of a copy of the notice of the judgment.
The terms computed from the filing in the record of a copy of the notice of a judgment, resolution or order shall begin to elapse from the mailing date of the notice of the dictum when said date is different to that of filing in the record."
Section 3.- This Act shall take effect thirty (30) days after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 84 (H.B. 2815) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend Rules 53.1 and 68.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of 1979, as amended, to establish that the terms that are calculated from the filing of a copy of the notice of the judgment, resolution or order, shall commence to run when the service of process, resolution or order is mailed, when this date is different from the filing date, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $3^{ ext {rd }}$ of August of 2005.
Francisco J. Domenech Director