In short
Four articles decide whether a breach can be charged to someone. The debtor’s fault or negligence consists in the omission of the diligence the nature of the obligation requires and which corresponds to the circumstances of the persons, the time and the place; and where the obligation does not state the diligence to be rendered, the one corresponding to a prudent and reasonable person is required. Liability arising from negligence is enforceable in the performance of every kind of obligation, but the courts, according to the case, may moderate it. Dolo is a different thing: it consists in the deliberate and bad-faith breach of the obligation, it is equally enforceable in all obligations, and the waiver of the action to enforce it is void. If the debtor uses third parties to execute the obligation, they answer for the third parties’ dolo or fault, save a different agreement. And outside the cases expressly mentioned in the law and those in which the obligation so declares, nobody answers for events that could not have been foreseen or that, foreseen, are unavoidable; with two exceptions that hand the risk back to the debtor: where they are in delay in an obligation to give, and where they have undertaken to deliver the same thing to two or more persons.
What is it?
They are Articles 1163 to 1166 of Chapter II of Title III of Book Four of the Civil Code of 2020. They define fault and dolo, say you answer for those who work for you, and fix when a fortuitous event releases you and when it does not.
Who can do it?
Any debtor or creditor of a breached obligation. The fortuitous-event rule yields in the cases expressly mentioned in the law and in those where the obligation itself so declares.
Requirements
- Rendering the diligence the nature of the obligation requires and which corresponds to the circumstances of the persons, the time and the place.Verified against the official source
- If the obligation does not state that diligence, rendering the one corresponding to a prudent and reasonable person.Verified against the official source
- To be excused by fortuitous event, that the event could not have been foreseen or that, foreseen, it is unavoidable, and that no law or agreement assigns that risk.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: What carelessness is, per the Code
Article 1163 gives no list, it gives a standard: the debtor’s fault or negligence consists in the omission of the diligence the nature of the obligation requires and which corresponds to the circumstances of the persons, the time and the place. The same carelessness is not measured the same in every job, moment or place.
Step 2: And if nobody said what diligence was needed
The same article fills it in: where the obligation does not state the diligence to be rendered in its performance, the one corresponding to a prudent and reasonable person is required. That is the default minimum in any obligation.
Step 3: The court may moderate negligence
The last sentence of Article 1163 is a valve: liability arising from negligence is enforceable in the performance of every kind of obligation, but the courts, according to the case, may moderate it. That power does not appear for dolo.
Step 4: Dolo, and the waiver that is worth nothing
Article 1164 defines dolo as the deliberate and bad-faith breach of the obligation, says liability arising from it is equally enforceable in all obligations, and closes with the sentence worth remembering when signing any contract: the waiver of the action to enforce it is void. A clause making you waive in advance the right to claim for dolo is worthless.
Step 5: You answer for whoever you put on the job
Article 1165 says it briefly: the debtor who uses third parties to execute the obligation answers for their dolo or fault, save a different agreement. Subcontracting does not shift liability towards your creditor, unless that was agreed.
Step 6: What nobody could avoid
Article 1166 sets the general fortuitous-event rule: outside the cases expressly mentioned in the law and those in which the obligation so declares, nobody answers for events that could not have been foreseen or that, foreseen, are unavoidable. Two doors stay open for you to answer anyway: a law saying so, or the contract itself assuming it.
Step 7: Two cases where the fortuitous event is yours
The same article names them, and both run until delivery is made. The first: if the debtor is in delay in an obligation to give, unless the fortuitous event would equally have occurred with the thing owed in the creditor’s hands, without prejudice to their duty to indemnify the delay. The second: if they have undertaken to deliver the same thing to two or more persons. Being late, or having promised the same thing twice, hands the risk back to you.
Where to do it
These are standards the Court of First Instance applies where a breach is claimed. There is no agency and no counter: the Code names none in these articles.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If your question is from when there is delay, see the guide on delay: it matters here, because being in delay in an obligation to give hands the fortuitous event back to you. If what you want to know is how much is paid, that is the guide on indemnity for breach. This guide names none of the cases where other statutes do make someone answer for a fortuitous event, because we did not read those statutes; nor does it cover non-contractual fault, which is another chapter, nor the professional statutes that may set their own standard of diligence for a trade. The Code publishes no fee and no term for these articles. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Measuring diligence with a single yardstick: Article 1163 adjusts it to the circumstances of the persons, the time and the place.
- Signing a clause waiving in advance the right to claim for dolo: that waiver is void.
- Confusing dolo with negligence: dolo is the deliberate and bad-faith breach.
- Expecting the court to moderate dolo too: that power sits in the negligence article.
- Believing subcontracting shifts liability: you answer for the third parties’ dolo or fault, save a different agreement.
- Invoking fortuitous event while in delay in an obligation to give.
- Invoking it after undertaking to deliver the same thing to two or more persons.
- Forgetting the contract itself may declare that the fortuitous event is answered for.
Frequently asked questions
If we did not agree what care was needed, what is required of me?
The diligence corresponding to a prudent and reasonable person. The second paragraph of Article 1163 says so for where the obligation does not state the diligence to be rendered.
Is a clause stopping me from claiming for a deliberate breach valid?
No. Article 1164 says the waiver of the action to enforce liability arising from dolo is void.
The person I subcontracted did the work badly — do I answer?
Yes, save a different agreement. Article 1165 says the debtor who uses third parties to execute the obligation answers for their dolo or fault.
Does a hurricane or an unforeseen event release me?
As a rule nobody answers for events that could not be foreseen or that, foreseen, are unavoidable. But it does not release you if you are in delay in an obligation to give, nor if you undertook to deliver the same thing to two or more persons, nor if a law or the contract itself assigns you that risk.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
Poder Judicial
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
September 8, 2026
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From when someone is late: delay and its four exceptions
As a rule you must demand, in or out of court. But with a certain date in the contract, delay runs by itself.
What is claimed when someone breaches: loss suffered and gain not made
A good-faith debtor answers for what was foreseeable at contracting; one who breaches wilfully, for everything. On money debts, interest.
When the deal ended up lopsided: annulling it or readjusting it
If the advantage exceeds half the promised value, taking advantage is presumed. And if an unforeseeable event made it excessive, there are six months.
The thing bought was destroyed: until when the risk is the seller’s
Risk does not pass to the buyer until the seller places the thing at their disposal. If shipping was requested, it passes on handing it to the carrier.
The work collapsed, someone died, or it became impossible: what gets paid
Where the contract fails, the principal pays for usable materials and the proportional value of what was executed. With its own rules if the work is destroyed.
You managed another’s affair: expenses are repaid up to the benefit it gave
Article 1519 makes the interested party who benefits reimburse expenses and losses up to the benefit received, even without having ratified.
How damage is repaired: money, restoration, or both — your choice
Article 1538 leaves the form of reparation to the injured party’s choice, and allows an additional award where the act is a crime or wilful.
Staying silent on purpose is deceit; and if both deceived, nobody indemnifies anybody
Article 292 of the Civil Code of 2020 counts an intentional omission as deceit, and Article 294 leaves reciprocal deceit without remedy.