2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-SEVEN - Public Service (§§ 1 — 2641) › PART III - Puerto Rico Public Service Act (§§ 1001 — 1282) › Chapter 55 - Practice and Procedure Before the Commission; Judicial Review (§§ 1251 — 1282) › § 1262a - Special procedure

(a) Any duly authorized official or agent of the Public Service Commission may present before any judge of the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico a sworn petition alleging that the public service company or entity acting as such, as referred to in the petition, is not complying with the provisions of this part and/or the rules and regulations approved thereunder, or with any act, rule, and regulation relative to the protection of the life, health, safety, and welfare of the general public, setting forth acts or omissions that constituted said violation and naming the persons held responsible therefor. The court shall issue a provisional order addressed to said persons requiring them, under contempt of court, to stop all activity with regard to the conditions set forth in the petition, until the right thereto is judicially settled.
(b) In the provisional order there shall be fixed the date of the hearing which shall be held within the ten (10) days following the filing of the petition and the defendant shall be notified that in said hearing he may appear in person or represented by an attorney, to challenge the charges made against him and that a permanent order may be issued against him, should he fail to appear.
(c) Said order shall be executed in the same manner as done in summons for first appearance in cases of eviction. To execute said order there may be used the service of any marshal of the courts of Puerto Rico or of any member of the Commonwealth Police. A copy of the order and a copy of the sworn petition shall be delivered to the defendant. Both documents shall bear the seal of the court.
(d) The defendant shall not be bound to file any written brief in reply to the petition, but may present any proper defense. Whenever a dispute as to the facts arises, the court shall make an ocular inspection, if deemed convenient or if requested by any of the parties in interest during the hearing.
(e) The decision which shall be in writing may decree the permanent cessation of the acts alleged in the petition or rendering temporarily or [indefinitely] without effect the provisional order.
(f) The final decision may be appealed or reviewed before the corresponding court of higher jurisdiction. Where no provision therefor is made herein, the Rules of Civil Procedure shall govern in such appeals or reviews.
(g) The provisional order may be rendered ineffective by the court before the holding of the hearing when the petitioner or any other agent or duly authorized representative of the Public Service Commission so requests after having been convinced that the omissions have been corrected or the acts constituting the violation charged in the petition have been finally suspended.
(h) Any person who violates the terms of a permanent or provisional order under the present special procedure shall be guilty of contempt of court and shall be punished by the issuing court by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or by imprisonment in jail for a term which shall not exceed three (3) months.
History —June 28, 1962, No. 109, p. 288, added as § 51-A on June 27, 1969, No. 97, p. 268; July 26, 1979, No. 193, p. 547, § 1; Aug. 2, 2006, No. 141, § 3.