Suliveres v. Arjona Siaca
Suliveres v. Arjona Siaca
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
On February 10, 1951 two motor vehicles collided at Km. 54, Hm. 1, of the main highway between Cayey and Caguas, Puerto Rico, in which plaintiffs and appellants are alleged to have received certain injuries. Two days before the statute of limitation, that is, on February 8, 1952, the plaintiffs and appellants filed an action for damages in the District Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section.
Defendants and appellees filed a “Motion to Dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction on the person of the defendants,” alleging that since the defendants and appellees were all residents of the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and since the accident took place at Km. 54, Hm. 1 of the main
The plaintiffs and appellants answered with a “Motion to deny flatly the Motion to dismiss filed by the defendants based on lack of jurisdiction”, and alleged that civil actions were no longer governed by either the Rules of Civil Procedure or the Code of Civil Procedure but by Section 27 of the Organic Act of the Judiciary of Puerto Rico (Act No. 432, Sess. Laws, p. 1126), approved May 15, 1950, which provides:
“Any district of the District Court of Puerto Rico may take cognizance of any civil or criminal action under the jurisdiction of said court.
“Every civil or criminal action shall be filed in the judicial district of the corresponding territory, pursuant to the legislation in force; Provided, That if it is not so filed, the judge shall order the transfer of the case to the proper district, unless the parties thereto agree that the case be prosecuted in the district in which it was filed; and in civil cases it shall be prosecuted in the section in which it was filed, unless any of the parties thereto, within the ten (10) days following the serving of notice of the complaint, request the transfer of the case to the proper section.”
The purpose of Act No. 432 of May 15, 1950, establishing the Organic Act of the Judiciary of Puerto Rico, was to constitute the territory of Puerto Rico into a single judicial district, with territorial jurisdiction over the whole Island of Puerto Rico. Thus, the Justice of the Peace Court of Puerto Rico had jurisdiction over the whole island of any case assigned to it by law; the Municipal Court of Puerto Rico had territorial jurisdiction over the whole island in all matters in which jurisdiction was conferred on it by law; the District Court of Puerto Rico had territorial jurisdiction over the whole island in all matters in which jurisdiction was conferred on it by law; Sections 2 and 3 of Act 432 of May 15, 1950; Martínez v. Morales, 72 P.R.R. 200, (Snyder), (1951); Figueroa v. District Court, 72 P.R.R. 23, (Marrero), (1951).
The practical effect of the constitution of a single judicial district on § <§, 75 to 86 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico of 1933, was the repeal of those sections in all matters concerning the lack of jurisdiction of
The practical effect on Rule 12(6) of constituting a single judicial district is that the defendant would not be entitled to pray for dismissal because the action was filed in a section (judicial district) of improper venue: García v. Central Alianza, 65 P.R.R. 124, 126, (De Jesús), (1935), distinguished. Precisely, the aim of the Organic Act of the Judiciary is that no case shall fail on the ground that it has been filed in a section (former judicial district) other than the one where it should have been filed, and at any rate, it should be transferred to the corresponding section either by order of the judge himself or on motion of the' interested party.
It is clear that in the instant case, the judge, motu proprio or on motion of a party, should transfer the case to the section of the court where according to the legislation in force it should be heard, since the parties thereto did not agree to transfer the case to another section. Since this is an action for damages which originated in the former judicial district of Guayama, the case should have been transferred, in timely fashion, to the Guayama section of the former District Court of Puerto Rico, now Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Guayama Part: § 79 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico, as amended by Act No. 18 of April 11, 1935, Álvarez v. American R. R. Co. of P. R., 48 P.R.R. 464, 467 (Del Toro), (1935). As to the transfer to the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Ponce Part, that would be subject to the discretion of the court, if the defendants and appellees convinced the latter of the propriety of such change of venue on grounds established by the law and by our jurisprudence.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.