P.R. Laws tit. 32, § 2882
It shall be the court’s duty, in the cases it deems appropriate, within sixty (60) days after the defendant mortgagor’s responsive pleading has been filed, and before the pretrial conference is scheduled, under penalty of contempt, to hold a hearing or mandatory mediation conference which shall be presided by a mediator selected by the parties to be held at any court part or room or at the place selected upon agreement by the parties and the mediator, whereby all the alternatives available in the market to prevent the foreclosure or judicial sale of a residential property that serves as a principal residence shall be discussed. This shall be a jurisdictional requirement in proceedings held before the courts of Puerto Rico involving the foreclosure of a residential property that serves as the principal residence of the mortgagor or mortgagors. If this requirement is not met, no judgment may be issued nor the judicial sale of the mortgaged property whose foreclosure is requested may be carried out. If the mortgagor fails to appear at the mediation conference or fails to comply with the agreement reached with the mortgagee as a result of the mediation conference, the financial institution shall act in accordance with the agreement or note executed on the original date of the mortgage. The mortgagor shall only be entitled to a one-time mediation in a civil action filed to begin the foreclosure of a residential property that constitutes the mortgagor’s principal residence; provided, that the defendant mortgagor has not been held in contempt or, due to any reason or sanction, the defendant’s allegations have been suppressed by the court.
History —Aug. 17, 2012, No. 184, § 3, eff. July 1, 2013.