Margarita Rubio Gonzalez, Etc. v. Media Elements, Inc.

ORDER OF COURT We grant the appellee’s motion to dismiss. The appellant did not oppose the motion; moreover, we agree with the ap-pellee that, in the circumstances presented by this case, federal abstention is appropriate under the doctrine of Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315 , 63 S.Ct. 1098 , 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943). By enacting the Uniform Insurers Liquidation Act, 26 L.P.R.A. § 4001 et seq., Puerto Rico has constructed a comprehensive framework for the liquidation of insolvent insurance companies and the resolution of claims against them. Continued federal litigation may disrupt Puerto Rico’s regulatory system in three significant ways: (1) by taking jurisdiction away from the “central administrative forum” in which Puerto Rico’s legislature intended to concentrate all “claims against the corporation being liquidated, a method that promotes the orderly adjudication of same,”

Calderon v. Commonwealth Insurance Co., 111 D.P.R. 153 (1981); (2) by forcing the Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner to dissipate the insolvent insurer’s funds litigating a claim that could be settled more efficiently in the administrative forum; and (3) by creating the risk that Puerto Rico and the federal court will adopt different interpretations of the policy term at issue here, thus defeating the Commonwealth’s interest in a consistent disposition of all claims against the insolvent insurer.

See generally Martin Insurance Agency, Inc. v. Prudential Reinsurance Co., 910 F.2d 249 (5th Cir.1990);

Lac D’Amiante du Quebec v. American Home Assurance Co., 864 F.2d 1033 (3d Cir.1988);

Grimes v. Crown Life Insurance Co., 857 F.2d 699 (10th Cir.1988);

Law Enforcement Insurance Co., Ltd. v. Corcoran, 807 F.2d 38 (2d Cir.1986).

But see Bilden v. United Equitable Insurance Co., 921 F.2d 822 (8th Cir.1990).

Appeal dismissed.