2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 17 - Automobile Accident Social Protection (§§ 2051 — 2065) › § 2061 - Proceeding of claim awards; appeals

(1) The Executive Director shall investigate and decide the claims filed against the Administration using such proceedings as he may deem convenient, as long as the rights of the parties are guaranteed.
In the event that a claimant disagrees with the Executive Director’s decision, he may request its reconsideration within thirty (30) days from the date of notice thereof the determination is served or from the date of the postmark if he presents it, whichever is later. The claimant may be represented by counsel in this phase and give testimony and present the evidence he deems convenient. If he disagrees with the result of the reconsideration, he may request a public hearing before the Executive Director or an Examiner designated by him within thirty (30) days from the date the determination is served or the date of the postmark if he presents it, whichever is later. At this public hearing the claimant cannot submit any evidence to the consideration of the Executive Director which the Executive Director did not have before him when making the determination, unless the impossibility of obtaining it previously is shown to the satisfaction of the Executive Director.
The claimant may appear in person or represented by counsel and a record shall be kept of the proceedings and of all the testimony given at the hearing, but the testimony need not be transcribed unless a subsequent appeal is made.
In the event that more than one (1) claim is presented in connection with the same victim and the evidence submitted is the same or substantially the same in nature, only one (1) record shall be kept of the proceedings and such evidence as may be produced with respect to one (1) proceeding may be deemed to be produced with respect to the others, provided none of the claimant is harmed thereby.
The rules of evidence that prevail in a court of justice shall not be mandatory in any proceeding before the Executive Director.
After the hearing is held, the Executive Director shall make his determinations and conclusions and shall furnish to each party a copy of his decision and of the findings and conclusions on which it is based. This decision shall be final unless an appeal is filed before the Board.
(2) The appeal shall be executed by filing a writ of appeal before the Secretary of the Board within the thirty (30) days following the date the decision of the Executive Director is served or of the date of the postmark if he presents it, whichever is later.
The claimant shall be entitled to appear in his own right or assisted by counsel.
The Executive Director shall cause a certified copy of the record of the case and the transcription of the oral evidence to be transmitted to the Board. The parties may stipulate that the record be limited to a part of the proceedings or the transcription of the oral evidence.
The Board shall decide on the basis of the record before it and of any brief the parties may wish to present.
It may, at its discretion, grant oral hearings to hear the arguments of the parties before deciding. Its decision may be to sustain, modify or revoke the decision of the Executive Director, or it may return the case to the latter, with the pertinent instructions, including an order to consider additional evidence.
In cases in which the Board holds oral hearings, these may be presided by a single member of the Board designated by its Chairman or by one (1) or more examiners designated by it.
The Board and each one of its members, the examiners and the Executive Director shall be empowered to administer oaths.
(3) The decision of the Board shall be final unless the claimant or the Executive Director requests its judicial review by filing a petition to that effect with the Circuit Court of Appeals within thirty (30) days after the parties and their respective counsel have been notified of the decision of the Board by mail or in person.
The jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance shall be limited to issues of law, and the findings of facts, if sustained by substantial evidence, shall be final.
(4) All the terms established in this section are of a jurisdictional nature and their noncompliance deprives the Administration or the court of authority to deal with the petition filed. For the Administration’s effects the date of filing of a petition for reconsideration, for a public hearing before the Executive Director or for an appeal before the Board of Directors shall be the date it is received in the Administration, when filed personally, or that of the postmark when it is sent by mail.
History —June 26, 1968, No. 138, p. 335, § 11, renumbered as § 13 and amended on Oct. 30, 1975, No. 12, p. 782, § 11; July 1, 1986, No. 54, p. 185, § 6; Sept. 21, 2004, No. 387, § 5.