Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
____________________
No. 91-2062
ANGEL SIERRA-SERPA,
Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
MANUEL MARTINEZ, ET AL.,
Defendants, Appellees.
____________________
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Carmen C. Cerezo, U.S. District Judge]
___________________
____________________
Before
Selya, Circuit Judge,
_____________
Coffin and Campbell, Senior Circuit Judges.
_____________________
____________________
Carlos V. Garcia Gutierez with whom Guillermo J. Ramos Luina
_________________________
________________________
on brief for appellant.
Carlos Lugo Fiol, Assistant Solicitor General, Department
__________________
____________________
CERTIFICATION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF PUERTO RICO
____________________
appeal depends on a
question of Puerto
Rico and
the decision
The resolution of
the question
to the
of which
may have
Court of
important
of Puerto
Rico
I.
I.
Background
Background
__________
Plaintiff
this
Angel
court,
alleging
arising
out
sample.
At the time of
of
prison
the Puerto
("Sierra")
1983 in
violations
sentence of a Puerto
12,
Sierra-Serpa
of
the
officials' handling
Constitution
of
his
urine
Rico Administration
in
reclassification
transfer
to
different
of
Sierra's
facility
On January
resulted
controlled by
of Corrections.
allegedly tested
brought
and
custody status,
loss
of
furlough
privileges.
Sierra claimed that he
that
prison officials
had
improperly failed
to label
his
-2-
urine
sample
Acting through
and, on
and refused
counsel,
to let
him give
Sierra requested
he filed
another sample.
a second
both a "motion"
testing
and a
"grievance"
with
administrative
1988,
complaints were
Sierra's
relief
in
prison officials.
counsel
rejected and,
filed a
the Superior
These and
Court
complaint
of Puerto
subsequent
on
March 30,
for
injunctive
Rico.
Following
the
"privileges"
Superior Court
ordered
be
Certiorari
restored.
Rico.
that
all of
was
Sierra's
denied by
the
He
released from
brought
the
in the
present
Corrections
should have
order.
action
The
was
implemented
Court for
ruled that
the Administration
the
Superior
held, therefore,
Puerto
Rico's
one year
The Issue
The Issue
_________
-3-
of
Court's
that Sierra's
statute
to dismiss.
II.
II.
on
date by which
district court
barred by
complaint
federal
September 12,
Rico.
on April 4,
prison on
of
motion
The
statute of
Civil
the
parties
agree
limitations for
of Sierra's
incarceration
one
See art.
___
year
1868,
determining
Civil Procedure of
Puerto Rico's
torts governs.
5298(2)).
that
40 of Puerto
on
Rico's Code of
provides:
If a person entitled to bring an action
. . . be at the time the cause of action
accrued, either:
1.
2.
Insane; or,
3.
It
40, Code
of
Civil Proc.,
1933
(32 L.P.R.A.
254)
(emphasis added).
If
time
barred.
statute,
implicitly
The
question,
therefore,
is
whether
the
A
sentence
of imprisonment
in the
penitentiary for any term less than for
life suspends all the civil rights of the
person so sentenced, and forfeits all
public offices and all private trusts,
authority,
or
powers
during
such
imprisonment.
Art. 20, Penal Code,
1937.
This suspension of
civil rights
civil rights.
____________________
86-608,
____________
included
. . . marital
"guardianship
and
89 JTS 12.
tutorship
Those
rights,
property. . . ."
addition, both
Id. slip
___
parties apparently
agree
that civil
In
rights
1902, interdiction,
as
such, was
"[stricken]
enacted,
itself stricken,
In 1974, however,
so that
no
convicts were
-5-
thereafter
rights.
See
___
subjected
to any
art. 39-49,
loss
or
suspension of
civil
(33 L.P.R.A.
3201-3212);
question is thus
whether the
deemed implicitly to
__________
although the
slip
op.
at
repeal of Article
5.
The
20 must
be
of Article 40,
when
"new
law
contains
provision[s]
either
Art.
In
6, Civil Code
(31 L.P.R.A.
"contrary" to
Procedure, one
provision
6).
Article 40(3)
of the
1933 Code
in Article
order to decide
40.
Sierra
of Civil
of the challenged
contends that,
although
rights,
its
main
practical difficulties
says, the elimination
perfectly
purpose
is
to
accommodate
consistent with
Thus, he
of civil rights
the retention
the
of Article
is
40(3).
nevertheless
important that
the limitations
has
greater
access
to
counsel
-6-
and
period not
at which time
other
resources
anyone "[i]mprisoned
on
applies
charge," which,
to
those
sentenced
to
he
Article
"imprisonment
in
the
That the
was
beyond protecting
suspended.
suspension
Even when
suspension of
capacity to
civil rights
misdemeanants and
to such
pretrial detainees
were
that the
overall purpose
of
Article 40
by tolling
from
prison,
attainment
of majority,
is to
etc.
by
See
___
_______
of
______________
Article 40 "is to
persons
until
such
as
they
acquire
of the disabled
the
necessary
_________
to sue is
no longer
-7-
to
Sierra's
as to
argument with
such parties,
Article 40(3)
capacity
to sue.
However,
regard
the Solicitor
to
General
may have
draws a
contending
detainees but
anyone sentenced
has been
to imprisonment
implicitly repealed
in the penitentiary.
as to
The
Solicitor
General
significantly
claims
affect
that
the
this
limitation
time
practical
not
in
prison.
the incarceration
imprisonment in the
of
would
not
actions,
as
Conversely,
run during
position
he
says,
numerous
if limitations
periods did
of convicts
sentenced to
penitentiary, as such
incarceration can
are unable to
parties' arguments in
Puerto Rico.
find a conclusive
answer to the
Supreme Court of
in the
Civil Code
establishing as
ground for
-8-
divorce "`[c]onviction of
involve the
invoked.
loss
of
[a spouse] of
civil
rights'"
a felony which
could
no
longer
may
be
2 (quoting art.
the external
grounds here
fiction
structure which
in controversy
of law,
Code."
321 (2))).
give it
crumbles, we cannot,
an independent
say
Rodr guez
Candelario
______________________
repealed
by
the
that it
necessarily
the Civil
follows
from
that
Article
40(3)
was
repeal of
Article
20.
The statute
implicitly
to a "felony
in
which
felonies
no longer existed.
case, however,
has
life in
through a
may
the divorce
advanced
Article
of any
The statutes at
perfectly
logical
issue in this
irreconcilable.
rationale
Sierra
under
which
a convict's
civil
rights.
Although
is a
existence.
plausible argument
See Campis
___ ______
for the
statute's continued
occurred when
by the law").
-9-
369 (1947)
Moreover,
affected by Article
40(3) and by
of civil rights
statute
question, and
this question
because of
to litigation in
the potential
Puerto Rico, we
importance of
certify the
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QUESTION OF LAW
QUESTION OF LAW
Does Article 40(3) of the Code of Civil
Procedure of 1933
exclude from
the
applicable limitations period the time
during which a party is "[i]mprisoned on
a criminal charge," if that party would
formerly have been subjected
to the
suspension of his civil rights pursuant
to Article 20 of the Penal Code of 1937?
We
would also
or
welcome the
advice of
the Supreme
of Puerto
aid in
the
proper
resolution of
to its
the
issues
Court
response
of Puerto
jurisdiction over
to
the
Rico,
we
this appeal.
The
above question
shall retain
Clerk
by
the
appellate
is directed
to
provide
the
copies of the
Supreme Court
of
Puerto
Rico with
certified
district court,
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