Banco Popular de Puerto Rico v. M?V Classy Lady et al

Filing 69

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER re: 66 Motion Requesting Order. Signed by US Magistrate Judge Silvia Carreno-Coll on 3/28/2014. (NBB)

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

BANCO POPULAR DE P.R.,
Plaintiff,
v.

CIV. NO.: 10-1976(GAG/SCC)

M/V CLASSY LADY, ET AL.,
Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
On March 26, 2012, the Court entered a final judgment
against, among others, Defendant Ismael González-Lebrón.
Docket No. 46. During the proceedings to enforce the judgment, González died. See Docket No. 60-1 (death certificate).
Accordingly, the Court granted Banco Popular’s motion to
substitute González’s heirs—his widow, Luz Eneida MoralesCosme, and his daughter, Marta C. González—for González as
defendants in this action. Docket No. 63. Banco Popular
understands that, under González’s open will, Luz Eneida and

BANCO POPULAR v. CLASSY LADY

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Marta are his sole heirs. See Docket No. 66, at 2. It further
understands that neither has accepted or rejected Gonzalez’s
heritage. See id. at 3.
Given this procedural history, Banco Popular wishes to
invoke a procedure known as interpellatio in iure, by which we
should direct González’s heirs to accept or reject their inheritance within a specified period of time. See BBVA v. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 D.P.R. 689 (2005) (explaining
interpellatio in iure). Under Puerto Rico law, an inheritance is
not effective until an heir actually accepts it. See id. at 695
(citing Rivera Rivera v. Monge Rivera, 117 D.P.R. 464 (1986)).
Nonetheless, the law recognizes that certain parties, including
judgment creditors to the decedent, have an interest in settling
the matter of inheritance such that they may know whether
they may pursue their claims against the putative heirs. See id.
at 695–96. Interpellatio is the procedure by which a creditor, for
example, forces such a settlement. See id. at 696. By statute,
such an action may not be instituted until at least nine days
after the decedent’s death, see P.R. LAWS ANN. tit. 31, § 2786, a
period that has obviously elapsed. Once the procedure is
properly invoked, however, the court must fix a period for
“the heir to accept or repudiate the inheritance”; this period

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may not exceed thirty days, and if the heir fails to respond the
inheritance is deemed accepted. P.R. LAWS ANN. tit. 31, § 2787;
see also BBVA, 164 D.P.R. at 696.
We conclude that the interpellatio procedure has been
properly invoked, and, in accordance with the rule laid down
in BBVA, 164 D.P.R. at 696–97, we make the following Order:
(1) Within thirty days of being served with a copy of this
Order, Luz Eneida Morales Cosme and Marta C.
González shall each accept or repudiate the abovementioned inheritance.
(2) Luz Eneida Morales Cosme and Marta C. González are
hereby put on notice that a failure to comply with the
above deadline will result in our deeming the inheritance accepted.
(3) The acceptance or rejection mentioned above must be
made through a public instrument or a judicial writing.
Banco Popular is responsible for serving this Order on Luz
Eneida Morales Cosme and Marta C. González. The deadline
set forth above shall not begin to run until after service has
been properly made.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 28th day of March, 2014.

BANCO POPULAR v. CLASSY LADY

S/ SILVIA CARREÑO-COLL
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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