Opinion ID: 196628
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: CAPECO's Puerto Rico Law Tort Counterclaim

Text: 83 CAPECO contends that the district court erred in dismissing its counterclaim grounded in Article 1802, 31 L.P.R.A. § 5141. According to CAPECO, it was a compulsory counterclaim and was thus not barred by the one year statute of limitations, at least to the extent of defeating the main claim. 84 We reject CAPECO's argument for two reasons. First, in opposition to Coastal's motion for summary judgment on the counterclaim, it failed to inform the district court of the theory it now advances, that it is entitled to recoupment notwithstanding the statute of limitations. Additionally, the gist of CAPECO's counterclaim argument was that the threat posed by Coastal and CFMI allegedly working in concert forced CAPECO to give Harbor and Caribbean discounts, costing CAPECO potential profits. Given that we uphold the district court's finding that these discounts were illegal price discrimination, it appears at least doubtful under Puerto Rico law that CAPECO can collect for any lost profits thereby incurred. See, e.g., Rubio-Sacarello v. Roig, 84 D.P.R. 344, 351 (P.R.1962) (stating, in a contract context, that one who is guilty of illegality cannot bring an action). As a result, we fail to find abuse of discretion by the district court in its decision not to grant a new trial on this basis.