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United States Court of Appeals: For The First Circuit
United States Court of Appeals: For The First Circuit
United States Court of Appeals: For The First Circuit
Before
Torruella, Baldock,* and Thompson,
Circuit Judges.
of
defendant-appellant
Puerto
Rico
Power
Authority's
Fed.
Background
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mechanism.
Consequently, Rodrguez
at
the
end
of
2009,
Rodrguez
received
an
Counsel
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parties informed the district court that Chartis had settled with
plaintiffs2 all claims in excess of one million dollars -- PREPA is
self-insured up to that amount.
Trial ensued.
PREPA argued,
Rodrguez did not file suit until April 16, 2010. That should have
been the end of it.
However, the district court then reasoned that "the
determination of whether Rodrguez's claims are time barred thus
becomes a discussion of whether she exercised due diligence in
prosecuting
her
claims,"
question
of
fact
for
the
jury.
Relying on our
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her claims. The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence
for the jury to have answered the inquiry in the affirmative.
PREPA's timely appeal followed.3
II.
Discussion
del Estado Libre Asociado, 554 F.3d 164, 170 (1st Cir. 2009).
We
appeal
arises
from
diversity
action
and,
Post-trial, the court also denied PREPA's Rule 59(b) motion for
new trial and its Rule 60(b) motion for relief from judgment.
Given the result we reach today, we need not address either of
these rulings.
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Puerto
Rico,
the
statute
of
limitations
is
of P.R., Inc., 110 P.R. Dec. 740, 742 (1981), 10 P.R. Offic. Trans.
965, 969 (1981).4
P.R.
Court, a plaintiff will have "knowledge" of her claim once she has
actual knowledge of both the injury and of the identity of the
person who caused it.
action more than a year after the injury took place, she bears the
burden of proving that she lacked the requisite 'knowledge' at the
relevant times."
Id. at 14.
Id. at 15.
Villarini-Garca, 8 F.3d
at 84.
Finally, we noted that Puerto Rico law provides an
exception
"knowledge"
to
the
applicability
requirement.
Where
of
the
both
modalities
tortfeasor,
by
of
way
the
of
-8-
Rodrguez
330-31.
At
that
moment,
Rodrguez
acquired
sufficient
Coln
Accordingly, by May 7,
the
district
court
opted
for
different
-9-
Quoting Rodrguez-
See Rodrguez-
Id. at 20.
Id. at
22-23.
We disagree with the district court's reliance on the
phrase "likelihood of legal liability" from Rodrguez-Surs in
framing the knowledge inquiry in the present case; a plaintiff's
-10-
at 4.
Id.
required.
Notwithstanding this clarification and the fact that
Rodrguez learned of her husband's accident with PREPA's power line
on the same day it occurred, the district court answered the
actual-knowledge inquiry in the negative.5
court
possessed
should
have
found
that
Rodrguez
sufficient
Coln
Accordingly, there
That is,
omitted)
(internal
quotation
marks
and
citations
even
under
the
rather
outlandish
assumption
that
Rodrguez did not actually know that PREPA was responsible for the
power line, the statute of limitations for Rodriguez's claims began
to run on May 6, 2008.
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Supreme Court, only the assurances of the tortfeasor, and not those
of a third party, could have had any effect on the statute of
limitations then running on her cause of action.
P.R. Offic. Trans. at 329-30.
with good reason.
Coln Prieto, 15
be Damocles's sword.
Finally, a person in a position similar to that in which
Rodrguez found herself after the accident is not without recourse.
"Prescription of actions is interrupted by their institution before
the courts, by extrajudicial claim of the creditor, and by any act
of acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor."
31, 5303.
identity of the person who caused it, but is not entirely convinced
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Thus, a letter
Rodrguez-Surs, 123
Id.
Dec. 308, 328 (2004) 61 P.R. Offic. Trans. __ (holding that the
statute of limitations for torts begins to run when the plaintiff
learns of the elements necessary to bring suit -- that is, the
injury and the identity of the tortfeasor); Montaez v. Hosp.
Metropolitano, 157 P.R. Dec. 96, 106 (2002), 57 P.R. Offic. Trans.
Conclusion
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It is so