2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-SIX - Insurance (§§ 101 — 10377) › Subtitle 1 - Insurance Generally (§§ 101 — 4513) › Chapter 40 - Rehabilitation and Liquidation (§§ 4001 — 4054) › § 4004 - Jurisdiction and venue

(1) No receivership proceeding shall be initiated under this chapter by anyone other than the Commissioner and no court shall have jurisdiction to entertain, hear, or determine any proceeding initiated by any other person.
(2) No court of Puerto Rico shall have jurisdiction to entertain, hear or determine any complaint praying for the dissolution, liquidation, rehabilitation, sequestration, conservation or receivership of any insurer, or praying for an injunction or restraining order or other relief preliminary to, incidental to or relating to such proceedings other than in accordance with this chapter.
(3) In addition to other grounds for jurisdiction provided for by the laws of Puerto Rico, a court of Puerto Rico having jurisdiction over the matter has jurisdiction over a person served pursuant to the Rules of Civil Procedure, App. III of Title 32, or other applicable provisions of law in an action brought by the administrator of a domestic insurer or an alien insurer domiciled in Puerto Rico:
(a) If the person served is obligated to the insurer in any way as general agent, authorized representative or proxy by virtue of a contract that may exist or has existed between the insurer and the general agent, or authorized representative or proxy in any action on or incidental to the obligation; or
(b) if the person served is an insurer or reinsurer who at any time has underwritten a reinsurance policy for an insurer against which a liquidation or rehabilitation order exists at the time the action is brought or who is an authorized representative or producer of or for the reinsurer, in any action on or incidental to the reinsurance contract; or
(c) if the person served is or has been an officer, manager, trustee, organizer, promoter, or other person in a position of comparable authority or influence over an insurer against which a rehabilitation or liquidation order is in force at the time the action is brought, in any action resulting from such a relationship with the insurer; or
(d) if the person served, at the time of initiating the rehabilitation or liquidation proceedings against the insurer, is or was holding assets in which the liquidator or rehabilitator claims an interest on behalf of the insurer in any action concerning the assets, or
(e) if the person served is obligated to the insurer in any way, in any action on or incidental to the obligation.
(4) In the court, on a motion from any party, finds that any action should, as a matter of substantial justice, be tried in a forum outside Puerto Rico, the court may enter an appropriate order to stay further proceedings on the action in Puerto Rico.
(5) Any action thus authorized shall be filed at and assigned to the Court of First Instance, San Juan Part, to which a rehabilitation or liquidation proceeding has been assigned.
(6) Service shall be made upon the person named in the petition pursuant to the Rules of Civil Procedure in effect.
(7) No person may intervene in any liquidation proceeding for the purpose of seeking or obtaining payment of any judgment, lien, or other claim of any kind. The claims procedure set forth in this chapter constitutes the exclusive means for procuring payment of claims from the liquidation estate.
(8) No law, regulation, or resolution that provides for the dismissal of a lawsuit on grounds of inaction, shall apply to the receivership proceedings.
(9) The rehabilitator or liquidator shall be exempted from payment of fees, duties, or taxes levied by the Commonwealth or any of its instrumentalities, dependencies or municipalities.
History —Ins. Code, added as § 40.040 on Aug. 17, 1991, No. 72, § 1; Jan. 19, 2006, No. 10, § 9; Dec. 14, 2007, No. 206, § 4.