Civil Lawsuit Registry: what the government has been sued for and what it paid

It is a fiscal transparency registry. Its statement of motives explains the problem it set out to solve: the Government had no orderly, reliable source holding all information on suits filed in the courts, because it was scattered across the Clerks’ files of the General Court of Justice and the agencies’ legal offices or divisions. The law says what centralizing it is for: to facilitate and speed procedures, to clearly document the actions brought against the Government, the parties involved and what the judgment was; to allow better evaluation of the different bodies’ fiscal situation; to have the information needed to prepare the budget; and **to allow greater and better public scrutiny by centralizing all this information in one place**.

Anyone. The law says the Registry shall be accessible to the general public and that it shall be public and available electronically at the Department of Justice and through the Internet. It asks for no application, reason or particular interest. What does have requirements is what enters the Registry: the claim must be civil, brought by or against the Government and its governmental entities or against an official in their personal capacity on matters related to their duties, and its amount must exceed five thousand dollars — or, regardless of amount, be an "injunction" or "mandamus" proceeding.

• None to consult it: the law orders the Registry to be accessible to the general public and available electronically at the Department of Justice and through the Internet.Verified against the official source
• For a case to appear: it must be a civil claim by or against the Government or a governmental entity — or against an official in their personal capacity on matters of their duties — whose amount exceeds five thousand (5,000) dollars, or that constitutes an "injunction" or "mandamus" proceeding. And it must have been filed after the law took effect: the Registry is prospective.Verified against the official source

• None. The law does not condition access on presenting any document or application.

1. 1

   Step 1: What goes in and what does not

   Article 3 sets the threshold, and understanding it saves fruitless searching. It orders the creation of a Lawsuit Registry attached to the Department of Justice, **accessible to the general public**. And it defines its content: **it shall be prospective and shall include every civil claim brought by and against the Government and its governmental entities whose amounts exceed five thousand (5,000) dollars or that constitutes an "injunction" or "mandamus" proceeding, as well as suits against government officials in their personal capacity related to the performance of their duties, filed after this Act takes effect**. Three readings follow from the text: suits of five thousand dollars or less do not enter, unless they are injunctions or mandamus; the Registry collects both what the Government is sued for and **what the Government sues for**; and there is nothing predating the law’s effective date, because it is prospective.

2. 2

   Step 2: The eight fields of each entry

   Article 4 lists exactly what the Registry shall contain, and the list is useful because it says what you can expect to find: (a) case number; (b) parties in the case; (c) names of both parties’ legal representatives; (d) causes of action; (e) amounts claimed; (f) **amount awarded or agreed**; (g) judicial dispositions on the case; and (h) date of the case’s final resolution. Subsection (f) is the one answering the most-asked question: how much the Government ended up paying, whether by judgment or by settlement.

3. 3

   Step 3: Who feeds the Registry and how fast

   Article 5 sets the deadlines on the agency side, and there are three. **At the start:** the official in charge of the governmental entity, or their designee, has the obligation to notify the Secretary of Justice of every civil claim filed in court by or against that entity — or against them personally on matters of their office — whose amount exceeds five thousand dollars or that constitutes an injunction or mandamus, submitting **a copy of the complaint and the summons** and clearly stating the date, cause and nature of the action, the amount claimed, the parties’ names and the participating attorneys’ names and bar numbers. That written notice **shall be filed within thirty (30) days following the date of receiving the summons**. **At the end:** upon the case’s conclusion, the same official must notify the Secretary with a copy of the judgment or the settlement agreement and give written notice, clearly and concisely, of the date of notice of the judgment or agreement and the amount awarded or agreed, **within sixty (60) days following approval of the settlement agreement or notice of the filing of record of a copy of the complaint**. **If appealed:** they must notify that step **within thirty (30) days following the date on which a copy of that appeal was received**, and that date shall be stated in writing and under a certification signed by the person receiving the document.

4. 4

   Step 4: What a "governmental entity" is here

   The Article 2(c) definition is broad and worth keeping in mind before concluding something should not be in the Registry: **every agency, department, public corporation and its subsidiaries, office, administration, commission, governing board, administrative unit, municipalities, their consortia and municipal corporations and any other entity of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches**. That is, it includes municipalities and their corporations, and reaches all three branches. Article 2(b) defines the "Registry" as comprising all civil-nature judicial cases brought by and against the Government and its governmental entities, as well as suits against officials in their personal capacity related to the performance of their official duties; and 2(d) defines "Secretary" as the Secretary of the Department of Justice.

5. 5

   Step 5: Public, and on the Internet

   Article 6 is a single sentence: **the Registry shall be public and available electronically at the Department of Justice and through the Internet**. The statement of motives says what for: to allow greater and better public scrutiny by centralizing all this information in one place. **We do not publish that portal’s address**, because the law orders the Registry to be on the Internet but sets no address, and guessing a government URL from a domain pattern is exactly what we do not do. Article 7 empowers the Secretary to adopt and promulgate a regulation for the law’s proper compliance and implementation, giving one hundred eighty (180) days from approval to prepare it; that regulation is not in the law’s text. Article 8 says the funds for the Registry’s operation shall come from the Department of Justice’s budget, and Article 9 that the law took effect one hundred eighty (180) days after its approval.

Before the Department of Justice, where the law places the Registry and orders it available electronically, as well as through the Internet. What we do not publish: the portal address, the system’s name, the query form, the cost of a copy, how long a request takes or the regulation the Secretary was to prepare within one hundred eighty days. Act 1-2003 orders the Registry and its publicity, but sets none of those details; that is why cost and processing time stay unverified.

• Looking for a case of five thousand dollars or less: the law only includes those exceeding that amount, except injunctions or mandamus.
• Looking for a suit predating the law’s effective date: the Registry is prospective.
• Believing it only collects suits against the government: the law says "by and against", so what the Government sues for also enters.
• Ruling out a municipality: the definition of governmental entity includes municipalities, their consortia and municipal corporations.
• Expecting the outcome of a recently filed case: the agency has sixty days from the settlement or judgment to report the amount.
• Assuming there is a fine if the agency does not report: this law creates no penalty for missing the Article 5 deadlines.
• Confusing this registry with the law authorizing suits against the State: they are different laws and this one only creates the registry.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Justicia de Puerto Rico

  Justicia

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Department of Justice

  Justicia

  www.justicia.pr.gov