South Porto Rico Sugar Co. v. Public Service Commission of Puerto Rico
South Porto Rico Sugar Co. v. Public Service Commission of Puerto Rico
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
For a better understanding of this case, we deem it proper to make at the outset a chronological description of the development of the case until its arrival at this Court:
On August 1, 1950 Enrique Lassise, in his own right and in representation and behalf of other colonos of the Central Guánica, filed with the Public Service Commission of Puerto Rico
,The respondent filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the Commission has not determined the fair value of respondent’s properties nor the percentage of reasonable profit which it is entitled to receive from its invested capital; and that assuming that respondent has been charging unfair or unreasonable rates, it would not be proper to order it to reimburse its colonos the excess between the rates filed with the Commission and those which the Commission may determine as reasonable after a hearing. On November 28, 1950 the Commission dismissed that motion. It based the dismissal on the ground adduced in its decision rendered fourteen days previously in Asociación de Colonos de Caña de Yabucoa v. Antonio Roig Sucrs. On January 2, 1951 the Commission overruled a motion for reconsideration filed by respondent. Thereupon respondent answered denying the essential averments of the complaint and alleging certain special defenses.
Thus, on August 9, 1951 the Commission entered an order setting forth that on May 13, 1951 the Governor of Puerto Rico had approved Act No. 426, entitled the “Sugar Act of Puerto Rico,” .which expressly repeals Act No. 221 of May 12, 1942; that “in view of the aforesaid circumstances, it hereby orders the dismissal of the cases pending before the Commission which are related to the aforementioned legislation, and of this case in particular, in the belief that any order which might be entered would be academic," and that, “notwithstanding the foregoing, any party interested in raising any question of fact or of law may appeal to the Commission and make pertinent allegations within a period of fifteen (15) days, counted from the notice of this Order.” (Italics ours.) Six days later the complainant filed a reasoned motion moving the Commission
On February 28, 1952 the complainant appeared again before the Commission and filed a “motion for detailed information,” in which, after pointing out that the case has been pending since January 1951 and that notwithstanding the repeal of Act No. 221 of 1942, all actions which have been or may be instituted under the previous Act were excepted, he alleges that in order to pass upon the issues of fact involved in the instant case and hear the case on its merits, it is necessary that respondent furnish the following data as disclosed by its official books and records for each of the aforementioned years: (1) final laboratory report on the results of the year’s crop; (2) fixed assets of the respondent in connection with the grinding operations; (3) operating and depreciation expenses incurred in the value of the physical plant and its dependencies, as shown by- its books; (4) financial results of the factory; and (5) a summary outline showing the industrial profit, the reserve or disbursements for income taxes, and liquid profit.
On July 1, 1952 the Commission entered an order granting the above motion, requiring respondent to furnish [to the Commission] within a period not to exceed thirty days, all data asked for by complainant in the latter motion. In answer to that order, respondent alleged in writing that that order had been entered without hearing the respondent and without jurisdiction, alleging that the case had already been dismissed by order of August 9, 1951 which was final and unappealable; that all the data sought by the Commission appears from the annual statements and final laboratory reports which respondent has filed in the office of the secretary of the Commission at the end of the grinding season;
On March 17, 1953 the Commission entered an order in which, after stating that a hearing had been held on February 5, 1953 in connection with the merits of its order of July 1, 1952, announced that, after consideration of the objections raised by respondent, “it overrules the same and hereby ratifies its order of July 1, 1952, and further orders respondent to comply with that order within a period of thirty (30) days, counted from the date of notice hereof.”
On April 16, 1953 (sic) the respondent appealed to the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Part, from the orders entered by the Commission on July 1, 1952 and March 17, 1953. The Commission moved the court to dismiss the appeal (1) because those orders are not appealable; (2) be
Respondent appealed to this Court from the judgment rendered by the Superior Court. It now contends that the Superior Court erred: (1) in dismissing the appeal and remanding the case to the Commission; (2) in holding that the Commission was without power to order the dismissal of the case; (3) in reopening the case 6 months and 19 days after its dismissal; (4) in reopening the case to be heard bn the merits and for determination of the value of appellant’s properties, the percentage of reasonable profit it was entitled to receive from its invested capital, and the rates it would have been authorized to charge during the years 1946 to 1950 inclusive; and (5) in failing to hold that the claims for 1946, 1947, and 1948 had prescribed at the time the complaint was filed.
The fourth error was also committed. As pointed out already, on November 28, 1950 the Commission denied a motion to dismiss filed by respondent. The Commission alleged, among other grounds, that “ivhen deciding this case ive must determine the fair value of petitioner’s properties, as well as the reasonable profit which it is entitled to receive,” and that “if the Commission shall reach the conclusion that the profit realized by respondent has been excessive, then reimbursement to the colonos would be in order.” The Commission is without authority to make such a determination at the present time. It cannot be denied that by virtue of the final proviso of § 39 of Act No. 426, the “causes for actions, suits, appeals, penalties and cases and proceedings shall subsist and may be demanded, filed or continued to be prosecuted as if Act No. 221 of 1942 had not been repealed.” However, in Molini v. Sociedad Mario Mercado e Hijos, 73 P.R.R. 873, a complaint was filed with the Commission
Since the two errors already discussed were committed, we need not consider the second, third, and fifth.
The order appealed from will be reversed and the dismissal of the complaint ordered. Mr. Justice Sifre and Mr. Justice Belaval did not participate herein.
Hereinafter referred to simply as 'the “Commission.”
The record does not show whether notice of that motion was served on respondent.
Subdivisions 3 and 4 of the motion are also subdivided.
Section 39 of Act No. 426 of May 13, 1961 (p. 1138, known as the “Sugar Act of Puerto Rico”), provides in its final proviso “That the repeal of Act No. 221 of May 12, 1942, shall not impair rights, causes for actions, suits, appeals, penalties, cases and proceedings, filed or to be filed, which may have arisen under said Act No. 221 of 1942, its regulations and/or the orders issued by the Public Service Commission of Puerto Rico, up to the date in which said Act is effectively repealed, which rights, causes for actions, suits, appeals, penalties and cases and proceedings shall subsist and may be demanded, filed or continue to be prosecuted as if Act No. 221 of 1942 had not been repealed.”
If the trial court was of the opinion that the orders of July 1, 1952 and March 17, 1953 were not appealable as being preliminary acts of the Commission and, hence, that it lacked jurisdiction to take cognizance of the case, it should have said so without entering into the merits of the questions raised by the parties. Román v. Figueroa, 73 P.R.R. 817, 821; P. R. Housing Authority v. Sagastivelza, 71 P.R.R. 406, 409.
See Act No. 432 of May 15, 1950 (Sess. Laws, p. 1126), and Act No. 11 of July 24, 1952 (Spec. Sess. Laws, p. 30).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.