2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 17 - Automobile Accident Social Protection (§§ 2051 — 2065) › § 2052 - Definitions

The following terms shall have the meaning expressed below:
(1) Children. — Includes children, stepchildren, children by adoption and foster children, it being understood by the latter those individuals who without being children, stepchildren or children by adoption, have been fostered by other persons as if they were their own children, during a term of not less than three (3) years, or during two-thirds (2 / 3) of the life of such persons, whichever of the two terms is the shorter, immediately and consecutively preceding the date of the accident which originates a claim under the provisions of this chapter.
(2) Parents. — Includes father, mother, parents by adoption or foster parents, it being understood by the latter those individuals who, without being the father, mother or parents by adoption of other persons, have fostered these persons as if they were their own children, during a term of not less than three (3) years, or during two-thirds (2 / 3) of the life of the person so fostered and treated as their own child, whichever of the two terms is the shorter, immediately and consecutively preceding the date of the accident which originates a claim under the provisions of this chapter.
(3) Wife or husband. — Means the legal spouse or the woman or man who at the time of the death of the victim and during the three (3) years immediately preceding the injury live together with the victim as husband and wife even though not married.
(4) Motor vehicles. — Means any vehicle, including trailers, designed to operate on public highways propelled by power other than muscular, which type of vehicle is authorized to travel on the public highways by the Department of Transportation and Public Works by issuing a motor vehicle license to it.
(5) Administration. — Means the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration.
(6) Executive Director. — Means the Executive Director of the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration.
(7) Board. — Means the Board of Directors of the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration.
(8) Housewife (or man). — Means a person, regardless of his civil status, whose principal occupation is the maintenance, administration and control of a home, and who is not engaged in a regular paid occupation or is not regularly employed in a job outside the home.
(9) Disability. — Is a disability of such a nature as to prevent the victim from engaging fully and continuously in any employment or occupation for which he is capable by his education, experience and training.
(10) Victim. — Natural person who suffers bodily injuries or sickness or death as a result thereof, as a consequence of the maintenance or use by himself or by another person of a motor vehicle as such vehicle.
(11) Dependency. — Whenever it is required that a person be dependent on another, such dependency shall be economic, real and direct, of a substantial nature and not merely financial assistance, by which a person depends on the financial contributions of another for his sustenance.
(12) Maintenance. — Means any type of essential, sudden or unexpected repairs or servicing required by a motor vehicle to start or continue to operate legally and safely on the public highways. It excludes vehicle maintenance done in the home, activities related to motor vehicle cleaning and enhancements, activities related to the business of bodywork, paint and repair of motor vehicle parts that are not physically attached thereto.
(13) Use of the motor vehicle as such. — Means the use of a motor vehicle for the purpose of a person transporting himself or others to a different place or to carry, push or tow animals, plants or objects. It does not include uses of the vehicle incidental to the purpose mentioned above, nor fortuitous events that do not occur during, or as a direct result of, such use at that moment or reasonably soon afterwards. It includes loading or unloading the vehicle.
(14) Employment. — Shall mean, for the effects of what is provided in § 2054(3)(b) of this title, any service which the victim was performing in exchange for a salary, commission or any other kind of remuneration, at the time the disability occurred.
Services rendered by a person shall be deemed as employment under § 2054(3)(b) of this title, regardless of whether there is an employer-employee relationship, unless and until the existence of the following conditions is demonstrated:
(a) The employer does not exert, nor can he exert, any command or supervision over the person;
(b) the person renders the service beyond the employer’s normal course, or place of business;
(c) the person renders the service as part of the normal activity of his work, business or profession, which service is available to other people and does not cease when the contractual relationship with the employer ceases.
(15) Employer. — Means, to the effects of what is provided in § 2054(3)(b) of this title, any private person or entity that employs one (1) or more workers or employees to render any service. The Government of the Commonwealth, the various municipal governments, boards, commissions, authorities, instrumentalities, public corporations and agencies of the Commonwealth shall also be deemed as employers with regard to the workers, employees and officials they hire.
(16) Person responsible for the accident. — Means any person who causes an accident while driving a motor vehicle recklessly or negligently, pursuant to the Vehicles and Traffic Act of Puerto Rico in effect, as provided in § 2056(1)(a) of this title.
(17) Person not responsible for the accident. — Means any person who does not cause a traffic accident, but who, at the time the accident occurs, is among the non-coverage exclusions in Section 6.3. In these cases, the Administration shall recover what it disbursed on such person, pursuant to the provisions in § 2056(1)(b) of this title.
History —June 26, 1968, No. 138, p. 335, § 2; May 31, 1972, No. 55, p. 129; July 23, 1974, No. 180, Part 2, p. 49, § 1; Oct. 30, 1975, No. 12, p. 782, § 1; July 1, 1986, No. 54, p. 185, § 1; June 26, 1987, No. 45, p. 148, § 1; Sept. 21, 2004, No. 387, § 1.