2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE ELEVEN - Workmen’s Compensation (§§ 1 — 268) › Chapter 1 - Workmen’s Accident Compensation (§§ 1 — 42) › § 32 - Third party liability; subrogation

In case where the injury, the professional disease, or the death entitling the workman or employee or his beneficiaries to compensation in accordance with this chapter has been caused under circumstances making a third party responsible for such injury, disease, or death, the injured workman or employee or his beneficiaries may claim and recover damages from the third party responsible for said injury, disease, or death, within one year following the date of the final decision of the case by the Manager of the State Insurance Fund, who may subrogate himself in the rights of the workman or employee or his beneficiaries to institute the same action in the following manner:
When an injured workman or employee, or his beneficiaries in the case of death, may be entitled to institute an action for damages against a third party in cases where the State Insurance Fund, in accordance with the terms of this chapter, is obliged to compensate in any manner or to furnish treatment, the Manager of the State Insurance Fund shall subrogate himself in the rights of the workman or employee or of his beneficiaries, and may institute proceedings against such third party in the name of the injured workman or employee or his beneficiaries, within the ninety (90) days following the date of the final and enforceable decision of the case, and any sum which as a result of the action, or by virtue of a judicial or extrajudicial compromise, may be obtained in excess of the expenses incurred in the case shall be delivered to the injured workman or employee or to his beneficiaries entitled thereto. The workman or employee or his beneficiaries shall be parties in every proceeding instituted by the Manager under the provisions of this section, and it shall be the duty of the Manager to serve written notice on them of such proceedings within five (5) days after the action is instituted.
If the Manager should fail to institute action against the third person responsible as provided in the preceding paragraph, the workman or employee or his beneficiaries shall be fully at liberty to institute such action in their behalf, without being obliged to reimburse the State Insurance Fund for the expenses incurred in the case.
Neither the injured workman or employee nor his beneficiaries may institute any action, nor may compromise any cause of action they may have against the third party responsible for the damages until after the expiration of ninety days from the date of the final and enforceable decision of the case by the Manager of the State Insurance Fund.
No compromise between the injured workman or employee, or his beneficiaries in case of death, and the third party responsible within the ninety (90) days subsequent to the date in which the decision is final and enforceable, or after the expiration of said term if the Manager has filed his complaint, shall be valid or effective in law unless the expenses incurred by the State Insurance Fund in the case are first paid. No judgment shall be entered in suits of this nature, and no compromise whatsoever as to the rights of the parties to said suits shall be approved, without making express reserve of the right of the State Insurance Fund to reimbursement of all expenses incurred; Provided, That the secretary of the part taking cognizance of any claim of the nature above described shall notify the Manager of the State Insurance Fund of any order entered by the court which affects the rights of the parties to the case, as well as the final disposition thereof.
The Manager of the State Insurance Fund may compromise as to his rights against a third party responsible for the damages; it being understood, however, that no extrajudicial compromise shall affect the rights of the workman or employee, or of his beneficiaries, without their express consent and approval.
Any sum obtained by the Manager of the State Insurance Fund through the means provided in this section shall be covered into the State Insurance Fund for the benefit of the particular group into which the occupation was classified or the industry in which the injured or dead workman or employee was employed.
History —Apr. 18, 1935, No. 45, p. 250, § 31; Apr. 12, 1948, No. 16, p. 28, § 1; June 15, 1955, No. 70, p. 258, § 2; Apr. 19, 1968, No. 22, p. 37, § 1; renumbered as § 29 on July 1, 1996, No. 63, § 3.