The First Circuit Federal Court of Appeals recently affirmed dismissal of a suit against the Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner on the basis of a Puerto Rico Insurance Code Article that bars suit against the Commissioner once a liquidator has been appointed. MRCO, Inc. v. Dorelisse Juarbe-Jimenez, Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico., No. 07-1614 (1st Cir. March 27, 2008). Of particular note was the court’s reliance upon the Spanish-language version of the Insurance Code Article to defeat an argument based upon the English-language version.
The trial court had dismissed the complaint on the basis of Article 40.210 of the Puerto Rico Insurance Code, the English-language version of which reads as follows:
Upon issuance of an order appointing a liquidator of a domestic insurer or of an alien insurer domicile in Puerto Rico, no action at law shall be brought against the insurer or the liquidator, whether in Puerto Rico or elsewhere, nor shall an action of that nature be maintained or entered after issuance of such an order.
The plaintiff appealed on the ground, among others, that its suit was in equity, not at law, and therefore was not subject to Article 40.210.
On appeal, the court acknowledged that the English-language version of the article was limited on its face to barring an “action at law.” However, the court went on to consider whether the English-language version of the Article comported with the original Spanish-language version, which states as follows:
Al emitirse una orden nombrando un liquidador de asegurador del país o de un asegurador foráneo domiciliado en Puerto Rico, no se radicará ninguna acción judicial contra el asegurador o contra el liquidador, ni en Puerto Rico ni en cualquier otro lugar, ni se mantendrá ni instará una acción de esa naturaleza luego de emitida la orden.
(Emphasis added). Noting the significant distinction between the two versions identification of the types of actions barred (English: “action at law”; Spanish: “no judicial action”), the court went on to hold that the plaintiff’s argument was precluded by the express language of the Spanish version of the Article:
The widely disseminated English translation of this section contains what is arguably an important error. While translated as barring “actions at law,” Article 40.210 actually and more broadly provides that “ninguna accion judicial — “no judicial action” — may be brought or maintained against an insurer or liquidator after issuance of a liquidation order. The original Spanish, in other words, makes no distinction between actions at law and at equity, as is possibly implied by the translation and argued by MRCO . . . In short, MRCO’s appeal to equity is a nonstarter.
The decision illuminates an interesting aspect of Puerto Rico federal court practice. Proceedings before the court are required to be conducted in English and all documents, including statutes, court decisions and exhibits, must be translated into English. Nonetheless, the court fairly regularly refers to the original Spanish-language versions of exhibits and legal standards (and Puerto Rico legal traditions) in the event of ambiguities in English translations.
