170502 ORDER RE HTA FUND STIPULATION VERSION MAY 2, 2018 1 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO 

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In re: PROMESA 

 Title III 

THE FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AND 

MANAGEMENT BOARD FOR PUERTO RICO, 

as representative of No. 17 BK 3283-LTS 

THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO, (Jointly Administered) 

et al., This Order relates only to 

17 BK 3567-LTS and shall 

be filed in the Lead Case No. 

17 BK 3283-LTS and Case 

No. 17 BK 3567-LTS 

 Debtors.1

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ORDER DIRECTING SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING AND STATUS REPORT IN CONNECTION WITH NOTICE 

OF COMPLIANCE AND PETITION FOR PAYMENT OF FUNDS (DOCKET ENTRY NO. 345) AND MOTION 

INFORMING STATUS OF CASE AND REQUEST OF ORDER (DOCKET ENTRY NO. 406) 

On December 7, 2017, Adrián Mercado Jiménez (“Movant”) filed a Notice of 

Compliance and Petition for Payment of Funds (the “Payment Motion”) (case no. 17-3567, 

docket entry no. 345) seeking payment of $16,448 from HTA (the “Settlement”) and on February 

27, 2018, Movant filed a Motion Informing Status of Case and Request of Order (case no. 17-

3567, docket entry no. 406) (the “Informal Motion”, together with the Payment Motion, the 

 

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 The Debtors in these Title III Cases, along with each Debtor’s respective Title III case 

number and the last four (4) digits of each Debtor’s federal tax identification number, as 

applicable, are the (i) Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Bankruptcy Case No. 17 BK 3283-

LTS) (Last Four Digits of Federal Tax ID: 3481); (ii) Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing 

Corporation (“COFINA”) (Bankruptcy Case No. 17 BK 3284-LTS) (Last Four Digits of 

Federal Tax ID: 8474); (iii) Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (“HTA”) 

(Bankruptcy Case No. 17 BK 3567-LTS) (Last Four Digits of Federal Tax ID: 3808); (iv) 

Employees Retirement System of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico 

(“ERS”) (Bankruptcy Case No. 17 BK 3566-LTS) (Last Four Digits of Federal Tax ID: 

9686); and (v) Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (“PREPA”) (Bankruptcy Case No. 17 

BK 4780-LTS) (Last Four Digits of Federal Tax ID: 3747). (Title III case numbers are 

listed as Bankruptcy Case numbers due to software limitations). 

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170502 ORDER RE HTA FUND STIPULATION VERSION MAY 2, 2018 2 

“Motions”). In the Payment Motion, Movant seeks payment of $16,448 from HTA in 

connection with a prepetition settlement reached in an eminent domain action commenced in the 

Court of First Instance in San Juan, Puerto Rico (the “State Court”) captioned Autoridad de 

Carreteras y Transportación de Puerto Rico v. Sucn. de Luis Alberto Mercado Jiménez et al., 

Case No. K EF2011-0240 (the “Lawsuit”). HTA has reportedly deposited the Settlement funds 

with the State Court. In the Informal Motion, Movant requests that this Court enter an order 

directing HTA to pay the Settlement directly to Movant. Movant acknowledges that he and HTA 

entered into a stipulation on February 5, 2018 (the “Stipulation”), modifying the automatic stay 

to allow for payment of the prepetition Settlement, but alleges that he would not have entered 

into the Stipulation if he had known the Settlement would deposited with the State Court rather 

than paid directly to him. (See Informal Motion, ¶¶ 24-30.) On February 21, 2018, the Court 

entered a Second Omnibus Order Granting Relief from the Automatic Stay (case no. 17-3283, 

docket entry no. 2565) approving the Stipulation. 

On April 20, 2018, HTA filed a response (the “Response”) to the Motions. (Case 

No. 17-3567, Docket Entry No. 431.) In the Response, HTA asserts that Puerto Rico law 

requires that the Settlement be consigned to the State Court. (Response, ¶ 6, 9.) Attached to the 

Response is a copy of an order apparently issued by the State Court on March 19, 2018 (Docket 

Entry No. 431-2, the “March Order”), that provided, inter alia, that the State Court would return 

the consigned sum if HTA did not provide the court with proof of the granting of stay relief with 

respect to the case. On April 27, 2018, Movant filed a reply (Case No. 17-3567, Docket Entry 

No. 433, the “Reply”) to HTA’s Response. In the Reply, Movant represents that HTA did not 

make a submission to the State Court and that the State Court entered an order on April 16, 2018 

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170502 ORDER RE HTA FUND STIPULATION VERSION MAY 2, 2018 3 

(the “April Order”) maintaining the stay of the Lawsuit. (See Reply ¶¶ 18, 19 and Exhibit L to 

Reply.) 

The parties are directed to meet and confer and provide: (i) a joint status report on 

whether any submissions were made to the State Court indicating that the Title III court had 

entered an order modifying the automatic stay to permit the release of the Settlement, (ii) an 

assessment of the status of the State Court proceeding and the parties’ understanding of whether 

the State Court will return the Settlement to HTA based on the March Order, and (iii) a statement 

as to whether, if the Settlement is to be returned by the State Court to HTA, the parties would be 

willing to conclude their Settlement with a direct payment to the Movant in return for a release 

and any additional documentation HTA may reasonably specify and require. Such status report 

must be filed by May 21, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. (Atlantic Standard Time). 

SO ORDERED. 

Dated: May 2, 2018 

 /s/ Laura Taylor Swain 

 LAURA TAYLOR SWAIN

 United States District Judge 

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