Opinion ID: 202647
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reserve Fund: the Duplicate Premiums

Text: 80 While the JUA's alleged property right to the Earned Premiums is supported by Law 253, the same cannot be said for the JUA's alleged property right to the duplicate premiums paid by those already covered by privately obtained insurance policies (Duplicate Premiums). These premiums, Flores Galarza argues, constitute a double payment for the same insurance, and, therefore, do not belong to the JUA, but rather belong to privately insured motorists or their insurers who are entitled to reimbursement. We agree. 81 Based on the law in effect at the time the premiums were withheld, the JUA was obliged to return the Duplicate Premiums to those requesting reimbursement. If no claim was made to these premiums after seven years, that money would lapse to the general fund of the Commonwealth Treasury. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, §§ 2603, 2606-2607. Thus, even if no one claimed the Duplicate Premiums within the requisite seven years, these funds became the property of the Commonwealth—not the JUA. Just as the Secretary is a custodian of the Earned Premiums for the benefit of the JUA, the JUA is a custodian of the Duplicate Premiums for the benefit of either those entitled to reimbursement or, if the premiums go unclaimed, the Commonwealth. 82 The 2002 Amendment, which requires the JUA to transfer the Duplicate Premiums to the Secretary after just two years, explicitly recognizes the JUA's lack of a property right to the Duplicate Premiums. The Statement of Motives section of the 2002 Amendment states that 83 during the existence of the Association, certain funds have been accumulated that do not belong to it . . . [which] results from the fact that a great number of [privately insured] consumers ... pay the corresponding [compulsory liability insurance] premium . . . when they obtain the motor vehicle license for the first time or when they renew it, but they do not request the Association to reimburse the money as is their right. 84 (Emphasis added.) 85 Although claiming a right to all of the insurance premiums, the JUA concedes that a portion of the premiums collected by the Secretary (i.e., the Duplicate Premiums placed in the Reserve) may belong to third parties: either motor vehicle owners with private insurance or private insurers who reimbursed their insureds. The JUA consequently admits that a large portion of the $73 million Reserve is the property of others. Given the lack of support for the JUA's claimed property right to the Duplicate Premiums, the JUA fails to allege a taking of this portion of the premiums under the first prong of the qualified immunity analysis. 86