MRCo, Inc. v. Juarbe-Jimenez , No. 07-1614. The plaintiff sued Banco Popular and the insurance commissioner of Puerto Rico as “liquidator of the Plan de Salud de la Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico.” The plaintiff then settled with Banco Popular. The underlying facts are fairly complicated. I find them interesting, but they would bore most people. But, what you need to know, is that there were proceedings in Puerto Rico’s “liquidation court” and “P.R. Law Ann. tit. 26, § 4021 precluded actions against the Commissioner during the pendency of the proceeding in the Liquidation Court.” The District Court denied a motion for summary judgment, but granted a motion to dismiss under Puerto Rican law.
A translation of the relevant statute reads:
Upon issuance of an order appointing a liquidator of a domestic insurer or of an alien insurer domiciled 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 order.
The most important thing is that the plaintiff argues that the Puerto Rican statute attempts to divest a federal court of jurisdiction. But the First say that the statute only impacts substantive rights and not actual jurisdiction.
The First also reproduces the statute it in the original Spanish. The first concludes that this statute bar equitable actions as well as legal ones (it discusses the meaning of “equity” in Spanish). It also rejects the argument that since the plaintiff claims to be seeking monies from the liquidator (rather than the proceeding), that it claims are its own, this doesn’t apply.
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