UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

In re:

The Financial Oversight and Management 

Board for Puerto Rico,

As representative of

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

Employee Retirement System of the 

Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto 

Rico, and the Puerto Rico Public Buildings 

Authority

Debtors

PROMESA Title III 

No. 17 BK 3283 (LTS)

(Jointly Administered)

MOTION DIRECTING ISSUANCE OF CHECK

TO THE HONORABLE COURT:

By counsel, Oscar Adolfo Mandry Aparicio; María del Carmen Amalia Mandry Llombart; Selma 

Verónica Mandry Llombart; María del Carmen Llombart Bas; Oscar Adolfo Mandry Bonilla; Gustavo 

Alejandro Mandry Bonilla; Yvelise Helena Fingerhut Mandry; Margaret Ann Fingerhut Mandry; Victor 

Robert Fingerhut Mandry; Juan Carlos Esteva Fingerhut; Pedro Miguel Esteva Fingerhut; Mariano Javier 

McConnie Fingerhut; Janice Marie McConnie Fingerhut, Victor Michael Fingerhut Cochran; Michelle 

Elaine Fingerhut Cochran; Rosa Estela Mercado Guzmán: Eduardo José Mandry Mercado; Salvador 

Rafael Mandry Mercado; Margarita Rosa Mandry Mercado; Adrián Roberto Mandry Mercado members 

of the estate of Pastor Mandry Mercado (hereafter collectively designated as “Sucesión Mandry 

Mercado”), respectfully state and request: 

1. The members of Sucesión Mandry Mercado have an inverse condemnation final judgment 

in their favor against the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (the “Commonwealth”) for $30,496,000.00 plus 

costs and interest (the “Judgment”). 

2. The Judgment was obtained in the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico, Superior Section 

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of Ponce (the “Court of First Instance”) on August 9, 2019, as amended on December 19, 2019, in Case 

No. JAC-2008-0853 (the “State Court Case”).

3. While Javier Mandry Mercado is one of the members of Sucesión Mandry Mercado, he is 

not represented by the undersigned counsel. He has a participation of 3.1% in the Judgment. 

4. As a result of the Judgment, on April 19, 2018, Sucesión Mandry Mercado filed Prime Clerk 

Poof of Claim number 6272 with the Court originally for $30,000,000.00 and as a result of the amendment 

to the original judgment on August 31, 2021 modified the original claim to $30,496,000.00 (Prime Clerk 

Proof of Claim Number 179550 (the “Claim”). 

5. The Judgment was confirmed by Puerto Rico’s Court of Appeals (ECF No. 18994) and the 

Commonwealth’s petition for certiorari to Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court was denied thereby (ECF No. 

20459), as well as the Commonwealth’s motions to reconsider such denial (ECF No. 20528). 

6. Sucesión Mandry Mercado objected to the confirmation of the Commonwealth’s plan of 

adjustment (the “Plan”) because the Claim for the taking of its real properties without just compensation 

is based on the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the 

Plan proposed to treat the Claim as a general unsecured claim, impairing the same, when Sucesión Mandry 

Mercado is constitutionally entitled to be compensated for the full amount thereof, without impairment, 

reduction or adjustment by the Plan (ECF Nos. 12701, 16481, 17062 and 17998). 

7. As held in the order confirming the Plan of January 18, 2022 (the “Confirmation Order”), 

the Claim is not dischargeable and must be fully compensated under the Plan pursuant to the Takings 

Clause (ECF No. 19721). The Plan’s Effective Date is March 15, 2022.

8. On January 28, 2022, the Commonwealth filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court 

of Appeals for the First Circuit (the “First Circuit”) from the Confirmation Order (ECF No. 19938). 

9. On November 23, 2022, the First Circuit affirmed the Confirmation Order, concluding that 

the Constitution of the United States of America command that government pay property owners just 

compensation is not “a mere monetary obligation that may be disposed with by statute” and that the 

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government may not “eliminate [its] obligation to pay just compensation and instead pay only reduced 

amounts based on a formula applicable to most unsecured creditors”. Therefore, bankruptcy laws that 

otherwise secure creditor’s claims cannot impair or limit the right of property owners, as Sucesión Mandry 

Mercado, to their full compensation, specially when as in this case counsel for the Financial Oversight and 

Management Board for Puerto Rico explicitly advanced to the Court during the confirmation hearing that 

every just compensation claim can be paid without affecting the feasibility of the Plan. (See In re Fin. 

Oversight & Mgmt. Bd., 54 F.4th 42, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 32496)

10. On October 17, 2022, the Commonwealth filed a petition for certiorari from the judgment of 

the First Circuit to the United States Supreme Court (the “U.S. Supreme Court”) (the “Petition for 

Certiorari”), which was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on February 21, 2023. Fin. Oversight & Mgmt. 

Bd. for P.R. v. Coop. de Ahorro y Crédito Abraham Rosa, 143 S. Ct. 774 (2023)

11. Rule 16 (3) of the Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States provides “[w]henever the 

Court denies a petition for a writ of certiorari, the Clerk will prepare, sign, and enter an order to that effect 

and will notify forthwith counsel of record and the court whose judgment was sought to be reviewed. The 

order of denial will not be suspended pending disposition of a petition for rehearing except by order of the 

Court or a Justice”.

12. No petition for rehearing was filed by the Commonwealth with the U.S. Supreme Court as 

to its denial of the Petition for Certiorari during the term provided by Rule 44.2 of the Rules of the Supreme 

Court of the United States. Therefore, the judgment of the First Circuit and the Confirmation Order are 

final and firm pursuant to Rule 16 (3). 

13. As of March 31, 2023, the amount due on the Claim, including interest and costs totals 

$34,982,305.00, of which amount $1,084,451.46 corresponds to Javier Mandry Mercado, for an amount 

due to the appearing members of Sucesión Mandry Mercado of $33,897,853.96, with interest accruing on 

the $33,897,853.96 after March 31, 2023 on the basis of $4,237.23 per day. This amount includes 

computation of compound interest, as held by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in Aut. Carreteras v. 

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8,554.741 M/C II, 172 D.P.R. 1050 (2008) and the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals in ACT de P.R. v. Rexach 

Hermanos, Inc., 2021 PR App. LEXIS 3383, regarding the rights of a party to compensation in eminent 

domain actions, since interest awarded is an integral part of the constitutional right to just compensation. 

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully requested that the Commonwealth be ordered to issue a check 

forthwith to the order of Sucesión Mandry Mercado for $33,897,853.96, plus the interest accrued thereon 

after March 31, 2023 on the basis of $4,237.23 per day, in compliance with the Plan and the Confirmation 

Order, as per attached Proposed Order. 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE: I hereby certify that on this date, I electronically filed the foregoing 

motion with the Clerk of the Court using the EM/ECF system, which will send a notification to all attorneys 

of record.

San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 5

th day of April 2023

s/CHARLES A. CUPRILL-HERNÁNDEZ

USDC-PR 114312

Charles A. Cuprill, P.S.C. Law Offices Counsel for 

Sucesión Mandry Mercado 

356 Fortaleza Street, Second Floor

San Juan, PR 00901 

Tel.787-977-0515

Fax: 787-977-0518

E-mail: cacuprill@cuprill.com

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