P.R. Laws tit. 10, § 268
(a) Any person who shall be injured in his business or property by any other person, by reason of acts or intended acts, forbidden or declared to be unlawful by the provisions of this chapter, except §§ 259 and 261 of this title, may sue therefor in the Court of First Instance and shall recover threefold the damages by him sustained, plus costs, including a reasonable amount for attorney’s fees.
(b) Whenever the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies or instrumentalities or any municipality shall suffer damages caused by any person by reason of acts or intended acts forbidden or declared unlawful by the provisions of this chapter, it may sue therefor for the recovery of damages in the same manner and with the same consequences as in the case of a private entity, but shall have no right to recover threefold the damages suffered, but instead the amount of such damages. Neither shall attorney’s fees be recovered, except in the case where the plaintiff shall be a municipality or an instrumentality.
(c) The judicial action to recover damages in accordance with the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be commenced within four (4) years after the cause of action accrued.
The filing of any civil or criminal action on the part of the state, except an action under subsection (b) of this section, shall suspend the running of the statute of limitations herein established during the pendency of said action, and for one additional year, with respect to any cause of action based in whole or in part on matters involved in the action by the state. No action may be brought outside the term of suspension or the term of four years after the cause of action accrued.
(d) A final and executory judgment rendered in any civil or criminal proceeding brought on behalf and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, to the effect that the defendant or accused has violated the provisions thereof, shall constitute prima facie evidence against such defendant or accused in any action brought in accordance with subsections (a) or (b) of this section. The effect of prima facie evidence of said judgment shall include all those matters with respect to which said judgment would be an estoppel between the parties thereby affected.
The provisions of this subsection shall not apply in the case of consent judgments or in any way rendered without reception of evidence, or in the case of judgments rendered in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
History
—June 25, 1964, No. 77, p. 235, § 12.