P.R. Laws tit. 12, § 1115r-1
When an agency or an entity of the government of the United States of America appears as one of the claimants of preferential rights or vested rights over a body of water in Puerto Rico, the Secretary shall follow the following procedure:
(1) The Secretary shall not begin the administrative procedure and shall request that the Secretary of Justice file a claim representing the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and against the other claimants before the Court of First Instance requesting that the respective rights to water be adjudged. This shall be consistent with what is established in 43 U.S.C. 666.
(2) The Secretary shall prepare a list of the known claimants including their residential address, telephone number, postal address and a summary of the right being claimed, which will be presented to the court together with the claim. The Secretary shall publish a notice in a newspaper of general circulation once for two (2) consecutive weeks inviting all parties holding a claim over the body of water in controversy to have their names included in the list of claimants.
(3) The court clerk shall issue personal summons[es] addressed to all known claimants. Summons[es] shall be issued by publication to all unknown claimants according to what is established in the Puerto Rico Rules of Civil Procedure.
(4) Once summoned, each claimant shall have twenty (20) days since being personally summoned and thirty (30) days if summoned by publication to file a pleading with his allegations, documentary evidence, relief requested and any other additional information to help the court in determining the rights to the water.
(5) The court may use its discretion to appoint a special master according to Rule 41 of the Rules of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico, App. III of Title 32.
(6) The court, if it deems it necessary, or upon a party’s petition, may schedule an evidentiary hearing for the purpose of receiving proof and to hear the parties involved.
(7) Once it has made a determination of rights, the court shall issue a judgment specifying the rights held by each claimant. In the judgment the court can make a determination as to the nature, scope, preference and conditions of the rights of water use.
(8) Once the judgment becomes final and binding, the Secretary shall issue the corresponding certificates of preference, franchises, or any other document proving the rights set forth in the judgment.
History —June 3, 1976, No. 136, p. 390, added as § 19-A on Jan. 1, 2003, No. 16, § 1.