2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTY-TWO Appendix (§§ 1 — 39.4) › Appendix III - Rules of Civil Procedure for the General Court of Justice, 1979 (§§ 39.2 — 39.4) › Part VIII - PROCEEDINGS SUBSEQUENT TO JUDGMENT › Rule 54 - Record on appeal or certiorari before the circuit court of appeals › Rule 54.2 - Statement of parol evidence

(a) Whenever the appellant or petitioner deems that in order to resolve an appeal or discretionary remedy after issuing of the writ, it is necessary for the Circuit Court of Appeals to consider some portion of the oral evidence presented before the Court of First Instance, one of the following in the docket, or a combination thereof shall be included:
(1) Stipulated statement;
(2) narrative statement;
(3) transcript.
The narrative statement shall only be in order in absence of a stipulated statement and upon prior authorization of the Circuit Court of Appeals, as provided in subsection (d) of this Rule 54.2. The transcript shall be in order only when the interested party proves to the Circuit Court of Appeals that it is not possible to prepare a narrative or stipulated statement, or that the narrative statement approved does not adequately state the oral evidence, notwithstanding the objections or amendments filed in a timely manner before the Court of First Instance.
Notwithstanding the above, the Circuit Court of Appeals may order as an exception, on its own initiative and on the exercise of its discretion, the preparation of a narrative statement or a transcript of the oral evidence or portion thereof.
(b) The statement of evidence shall present the manner in which the controversies pertinent to the appeal or the discretionary remedy arose and were resolved by the Court of First Instance. The statement shall include a relevant account of the oral evidence presented before the Court of First Instance to substantiate the errors indicated in the appeal or discretionary remedy prosecuted.
(c) Within thirty (30) days following the filing of the writ of appeal or certiorari, the appellant or petitioner shall prepare and submit to the Circuit Court of Appeals a draft of the narrative statement of the parol evidence pertinent to the appeal, together with a motion in which it shall justify the need for the Court to take into advisement the parol evidence for its proper disposition. A copy of the motion and the draft of the narrative statement shall be served to the appellee or respondent.
During the following twenty (20) days, the parties shall make the effort, through communications and meetings between them, to obtain a stipulation based on the narrative statement draft from the appellant or petitioner.
If after twenty (20) days a stipulation is not forthcoming, the appellant shall file within the following ten (10) days its opposition to the motion and to the draft of the appellant’s stipulation, in which he/she shall indicate specifically and in detail, with reference to the evidence presented, its objections to the appellant’s draft and the reasons for which it is prevented from reaching an agreement on a stipulated narrative statement. Otherwise, the draft of the appellant party may be used as the narrative statement of the parol evidence.
In the writ of certiorari the appellee shall not have to present its objections to the petitioner’s draft and the reasons which prevent it from agreeing on a stipulation until the Circuit Court of Appeals should so order.
(d) After the motion and the draft of the appellant or petitioner have been taken under advisement as well as the opposition of the appellee or respondent, the Circuit Court of Appeals shall:
(1) Order the parties to meet again to try to agree on a stipulation; or
(2) Hold a hearing before the Circuit Court of Appeals, or by delegation, before a judge of the corresponding jury panel, for the sole purpose of exploring the possibility of getting the parties to harmonize or minimize their differences with regard to the narrative statement of the evidence. During said hearing the merits of the remedy shall neither be discussed nor adjudicated nor shall the possibility of reaching an agreement be explored.
(3) Order the appellant or petitioner to proceed to obtain from the Court of First Instance the approval of the narrative statement or any portion thereof which has not been stipulated, pursuant to subsection (e) of this Rule; or
(4) Order the preparation of a total or partial transcript of the parol evidence, pursuant to the provisions of Rule 54.3.
The Circuit Court of Appeals may impose fees and sanctions on the party, its attorney, or both, should it determine that they hindered the achievement of a total or partial stipulated statement of the parol evidence and caused the delay of the solution of the appeal. Likewise, the Circuit Court of Appeals may impose sanctions on the party or attorney who intentionally has made a wrongful representation of the contents of the parol evidence.
(e) The narrative statement shall be submitted at the corresponding part of the Court of First Instance within the term of twenty (20) days after serving the resolution of the Circuit Court of Appeals which authorizes the drafting and submission of the narrative statement, unless the resolution provides a different term. On the same day in which the appellant or petitioning party submits the narrative statement, it shall serve notice of said fact to the other parties and to the Circuit Court of Appeals, with a copy of the narrative statement submitted. The parties shall file their objections to the narrative statement or propose amendments thereto within the following ten (10) days. The objections or amendments shall be forthwith submitted to the Court of First Instance, and shall be served on the Circuit Court of Appeals on the same day.
(f) Once the terms provided in the preceding subsection have elapsed, the narrative statement, with the proposed objections and amendments, shall be submitted for approval by the Court of First Instance. If the Court of First Instance has not approved the narrative statement within thirty (30) days of its submission, and provided that no objections or amendments have been submitted pursuant to the above clause, the narrative statement shall be understood to be approved. If any objections or amendments are submitted, express approval of the narrative statement shall be necessary. When the express approval of the narrative statement intervenes, the clerk of the Court of First Instance shall serve an official copy to the Circuit Court of Appeals.
(g) The terms provided in this Rule 54.2 may be extended upon a duly grounded motion and for just cause. The appellant or petitioning party shall be responsible for complying with the terms and procedures established in this Rule 54.2, and to serve notice to the Circuit Court of Appeals on any noncompliance or other related difficulty. Failure to comply with this responsibility shall bar the Circuit Court of Appeals from considering any designation of error of the Court of First Instance in the evaluation of the oral evidence, and could result in the dismissal of the appeal.
(h) In order to facilitate the preparation of a narrative statement of the evidence, legal counsels may use their own recordings, as authorized by the rules approved by the Supreme Court.
History —Amended on Dec. 25, 1995, No. 249, § 32; Aug. 12, 1997, No. 74, § 3.