Oquendo-Lorenzo v. Hospital San Antonio, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 17-1810, 18-1936
HOSPITAL SAN ANTONIO, INC., or alternatively, John Doe
Corporation, d/b/a Hospital San Antonio,
Defendant, Appellant,
DR. OSVALDO QUILES-GIOVANNETTI; NATIONAL FIRE & MARINE INSURANCE
COMPANY; SINDICATO DE ASEGURADORES PARA LA SUSCRIPCION CONJUNTA
DE SEGUROS DE RESPONSABILIDAD PROFESIONAL MEDICO-HOSPITALARIA
(SIMED); MARKETFORM MANAGING AGENCY LIMITED ON BEHALF OF
SYNDICATE 2468; JANE DOE; CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP DOE-QUILES; JOHN
DOES 1, 2, AND 3; CORPORATIONS A, B, AND C; UNKNOWN INSURANCE
COMPANIES A THROUGH H,
Defendants,
v.
JESSICA OQUENDO-LORENZO, personally and on behalf of her
conjugal partnership with Rolando Lopez-Montanez; ROLANDO LOPEZ-
MONTANEZ, personally and on behalf of his conjugal partnership
with Jessica Oquendo-Lorenzo; CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP LOPEZ-
OQUENDO,
Plaintiffs, Appellees.
APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Bruce J. McGiverin, U.S. Magistrate Judge]
Before
Kayatta and Howard,
Circuit Judges.*
* Judge Torruella heard argument in these appeals, but did
Carlos G. Martínez-Vivas, with whom Martinez-Texidor &
Martínez-Vivas was on brief, for appellant.
David Efron, with whom Alberto J. Pérez Hernández, Etienne
Totti Del Toro, and Law Offices David Efron, PC were on brief, for
appellees.
August 25, 2022
not participate in the decision.
HOWARD, Circuit Judge. Before us are consolidated
appeals of a final judgment entered by the district court and the
court's subsequent denial of a Rule 60(b) motion. This case
involves two Puerto Rico statutes -- Article 41.050 of the Puerto
Rico Insurance Code, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 4105, which
immunizes a set of healthcare workers from suit, and Section 3077,
which waives Puerto Rico's sovereign immunity and establishes
liability caps in certain circumstances. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 32,
§ 3077. The question before us is whether appellant, Hospital San
Antonio, Inc., benefits from the liability limits in Section 3077.
We affirm the district court's final judgment below. We also
affirm the district court's denial of appellant's Rule 60(b)
motion.
I.
A. Factual Background
In July 2013, Jessica Oquendo-Lorenzo -- then pregnant
-- visited Dr. Osvaldo Quiles-Giovannetti for a prenatal exam.
After examining Oquendo-Lorenzo, Dr. Quiles ordered her admission
to San Antonio Hospital. San Antonio Hospital is a public hospital
owned by the Municipality of Mayagüez. San Antonio Hospital is
operated by Hospital San Antonio, Inc. ("HSA"), a private
corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico.
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The next day, Dr. Quiles ordered a cesarean section on
Oquendo-Lorenzo, resulting in the birth of Oquendo-Lorenzo's
daughter, J.L.O. J.L.O. was admitted to the neonatal intensive
care unit at San Antonio Hospital and ultimately transferred to
the University Pediatric Hospital at Centro Medico in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, until she was discharged in January 2014. That
August, J.L.O. died.
Oquendo-Lorenzo and Rolando López-Montañez, J.L.O.'s
father, (collectively, "Oquendo") brought a medical malpractice
suit against HSA, Dr. Quiles, and their insurance carriers,
alleging that J.L.O.'s birth injuries and death resulted from
negligence on the part of Dr. Quiles and hospital staff.
B. Procedural History
HSA moved below for partial summary judgment on the basis
that it benefited from liability limits and immunity conferred by
two Puerto Rico statutes: Section 3077, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 32,
§ 3077, a statute that authorizes suits against Puerto Rico in
certain circumstances but places caps on liability, and Article
41.050 of the Puerto Rico Insurance Code, which immunizes certain
healthcare workers from suit. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 4105.
The district court denied HSA's motion and held that HSA was not
a covered entity under either statute. HSA filed a motion for
reconsideration, which was also denied. Following that ruling --
and while a second motion for reconsideration by HSA was pending
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-- in June 2017, the district court approved and adopted a joint
settlement agreement proposed by the parties.
Under the settlement, Oquendo agreed to release the
claims against Dr. Quiles and Quiles' insurance carrier in exchange
for $75,000. Oquendo also released the claims against HSA's
insurance companies in exchange for $270,000, with $50,000
allocated to Oquendo's attorney.
The settlement noted HSA's position throughout the
litigation that it was covered under liability limits established
by Article 41.050 and Section 3077. The parties stipulated that,
if HSA did not benefit from limited liability, Oquendo's damages
would include an additional $105,000 in excess of the $75,000 and
$270,000 payments specified in the settlement. Noting the district
court's ruling that HSA did not benefit from limited liability,
the agreement provided that -- should the court deny HSA's second
motion for reconsideration -- "the [d]istrict [c]ourt would enter
judgment against [HSA] in the amount of $105,000."
HSA "reserve[d], preserve[d], and maintain[ed] its
defense, as to the extent of the applicability of the immunity
and/or the statutory liability limit and/or cap" and preserved its
right to appeal. HSA also "preserve[d] and maintain[ed] the right
to request to the United States First Circuit the certification of
the issues and matters to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico."
Finally, HSA committed to "appeal to the United States First
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Circuit the judgment adverse to it, as to the denial of the cap on
liability and/or immunity."
The district court denied HSA's second motion for
reconsideration and, on June 27, 2017, entered a partial judgment
against HSA in favor of appellees for $105,000. On June 28, 2017,
the district court entered a final judgment dismissing all claims
against Dr. Quiles and the insurance companies. HSA timely
appealed after entry of the final judgment. HSA alternatively
requests that we certify the statutory interpretation issues
before us to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.
On November 14, 2017, and while this appeal was pending,
HSA filed a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from judgment on the basis
that Law No. 99-2017 ("Law 99"), enacted on August 13, 2017,
substantially amended Article 41.050 to expressly cover HSA. The
district court interpreted the settlement agreement as precluding
HSA from seeking further relief from the district court and denied
the motion in September 2018. HSA timely appealed that ruling.
II. Jurisdiction
In consolidated appeals, we must have independent
jurisdiction to hear both appeals. See Galvin v. U.S. Bank, N.A.,
852 F.3d 146, 154 (1st Cir. 2017). We conclude that we have
jurisdiction over both appeals in this case.
There is no question that we have jurisdiction to hear
HSA's appeal of the final judgment below. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
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The parties dispute whether we have jurisdiction to review the
district court's denial of HSA's Rule 60(b) motion. We do.
First, the district court had jurisdiction to entertain
the Rule 60(b) motion despite HSA's pending appeal because the
district court has "continuing jurisdiction during an appeal to
act in aid of the appeal." Puerto Rico v. SS Zoe Colocotroni, 601
F.2d 39, 41 (1st Cir. 1979). Thus, when "an appeal is pending
from a final judgment, parties may file Rule 60(b) motions directly
in the district court." Id. at 42. The denial of a Rule 60(b)
motion "is appealable as a separate final order." Stone v. I.N.S.,
514 U.S. 386, 401 (1995). If a Rule 60(b) motion is denied, "and
the denial appealed, we will entertain a request to consolidate
that appeal with the pending appeal from final judgment."
Colocotroni, 601 F.2d at 42; see also Stone, 514 U.S. at 401.
Because the district court had jurisdiction to deny HSA's post-
judgment motion -- and we have jurisdiction to hear appeal of that
denial -- there are no jurisdictional defects and we may proceed
to the merits of both appeals.
III. Standard of Review
Our review of a denial of summary judgment is de novo,
Miller v. Sunapee Difference, LLC, 918 F.3d 172, 176 (1st Cir.
2019), as is our review of a district court's statutory
interpretation. Hannon v. City of Newton, 744 F.3d 759, 765 (1st
Cir. 2014).
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With respect to HSA's request to certify the statutory
interpretation questions to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, we may
certify questions when we decide that available precedent is not
clear, and the questions may be determinative in the appeal at
issue. Quilez-Velar v. Ox Bodies, Inc., 823 F.3d 712, 723 (1st
Cir. 2016). However, "even in the absence of
controlling precedent, certification would be inappropriate where
state law is sufficiently clear to allow us to predict
its course." Pagán-Colón v. Walgreens of San Patricio, Inc., 697
F.3d 1, 18 (1st Cir. 2012) (quoting In Re Engage, Inc., 544 F.3d
50, 53 (1st Cir. 2008)).
Finally, we review the denial of a Rule 60(b) motion to
reconsider for abuse of discretion, though "embedded findings of
fact are reviewed for clear error, questions of law are reviewed
de novo, and judgment calls are subjected to classic abuse-of-
discretion review." Ungar v. Palestine Liberation Org., 599 F.3d
79, 83 (1st Cir. 2010); see also Roger Edwards, LLC v. Fiddes &
Son Ltd., 427 F.3d 129, 132 (1st Cir. 2005). Relevant here,
interpretation of a settlement agreement is also reviewed de novo.
Home Ins. Co. v. Pan Am. Grain Mfg. Co. Inc., 397 F.3d 12, 15 (1st
Cir. 2005).
IV. Discussion
As a federal court sitting in diversity, "we look to the
pronouncements of a state's highest court in order to discern the
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contours of that state's law." González Figueroa v. J.C. Penney
Puerto Rico, Inc., 568 F.3d 313, 318 (1st Cir. 2009). For purposes
of determining applicable Puerto Rico law, we look to Puerto Rico
Supreme Court precedent. Id. Where, as here, the Puerto Rico
Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue before us, we must
anticipate how the court would rule if it were deciding the
questions presented. Id. In doing so, we look to the "pertinent
statutory language and analogous decisions of the [Puerto Rico]
Supreme Court." Id.Our interpretation of Puerto Rico statutes "begins with
the text of the underlying statute, and ends there as well if the
text is unambiguous." In re Plaza Resort at Palmas, Inc., 741
F.3d 269, 274 (1st Cir. 2014). The Puerto Rico Civil Code mandates
that "when a law is clear and free from all ambiguity, the letter
of the same shall not be disregarded, under the pretext of
fulfilling the spirit thereof." Id. (quoting P.R. Laws Ann.
tit. 31, § 14). If we find the statute ambiguous, the Puerto Rico
Supreme Court requires that "we seek the legislative intent as
expressed in its legislative history, its statement of motives,
the different House and Senate committee reports or floor debates."
Estado Libre Asociado de P.R. v. Nw. Selecta, Inc., 185 P.R. Dec.
40, 2012 WL 1109131 (2012). Following this instruction, we would
typically begin our analysis with the text of the relevant
statutes. But there is a wrinkle here. We must first determine
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which version of Article 41.050 to interpret. That determination
turns on whether a 2017 amendment to Article 41.050 -- Law 99 --
applies retroactively to Oquendo's claim. If it does, we must
interpret and apply the amended statute. If it does not apply
retroactively, we will interpret the same version that the district
court interpreted below. We conclude that Law 99 does not apply
retroactively to Oquendo's claim.
A. Law 150
The district court applied the 2013 version of Article
41.050. We agree that that was appropriate, and follow suit.
Article 41.050 provides certain medical providers with
limitations on their liability. Since its passage in 1986, it has
been amended many times. See Kenyon v. Cedeno-Rivera, Nos. 17-
1686 & 17-2217, slip op. at 8-10 (1st Cir. Aug. 25, 2022). In
December 2013, the legislature amended Article 41.050 by enacting
Law No. 150-2013 ("Law 150"). Law 150 contained a retroactivity
provision, explaining that the amendments would be given immediate
retroactive effect, so long as the cause of action was filed after
June 27, 2011, and had not been already adjudicated or settled "in
a final and binding manner."
The district court concluded that because of the
retroactivity provision, Law 150 applied. We agree. Specifically,
the plain text of the retroactivity provision compels that
conclusion -- the case in front of the district court had been
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filed after June 27, 2011, and had yet to be adjudicated or settled
in a final and binding manner. Thus, the district court correctly
interpreted Law 150 and applied it to the present case.
B. Law 99
Law 99, further amending Article 41.050, was approved on
August 13, 2017. HSA argues that this law governs and that it
clearly grants HSA a liability limit.
The Puerto Rico Supreme Court recognizes that the
Legislative Assembly may retroactively apply civil statutes. See
González Fuentes v. E.L.A., 167 P.R. Dec. 400, 409-10, 2006 WL
6110919 (2006). Any legislative intent to give retroactive effect
to a law "should be expressly and clearly stated in the statute."
Vázquez v. Morales, 14 P.R. Offic. Trans. 1059, 1069 (1983). Our
task, then, is to determine whether Law 99 contains such a
provision and whether that provision extends retroactive effect of
the statute to Oquendo's claim.
Section 3 of Law 99 states:
This Act shall start to govern immediately
after its approval and shall have retroactive
effect over any cause of action and judicial
procedure that has been constituted or filed
before any Court or competent adjudicative
forum since June 27, 2011, on forward and that
has not been adjudicated or settled in a final
and binding manner by a court or competent
forum, or with regard to any fact taking place
on or after June 27, 2011, over which a final
and binding judgment has not yet been issued.
Law No. 99-2017 (English translation).
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For purposes of this case, we read Law 99 to apply
retroactively except to disputes that had been adjudicated or
settled in a final and binding manner by a court or other competent
forum prior to the law's approval on August 13, 2017. Unlike our
conclusion with regard to Law 150, because we conclude that the
case below had been adjudicated and settled in a final and binding
manner before the enactment of Law 99, we hold that Oquendo's claim
falls within Law 99's retroactivity exception.1
1 The untranslated text of Section 3 contains the phrase
"final y firme." Law No. 99-2017 (Spanish). We are cognizant
that our case law and Puerto Rico case law have translated "final
y firme" as final and unappealable. See Cruz v. Melecio, 204 F.3d
14, 20 (1st Cir. 2000) (citing Worldwide Food Dis., Inc. v. Colón
Bermúdez, 133 P.R. Dec. 827, 831, 1993 WL 840035 (1993)). We rely
on the parties to resolve issues related to reliability and
accuracy of Spanish to English translations. United States v.
Morales-Madera, 352 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir. 2003) (noting preference
for parties to agree to accurate translation or, alternatively, to
submit competing expert testimony on translation accuracy to
jury). Even when parties "disagree on how to translate certain
phrases . . . it is not our prerogative to resolve such disputes."
United States v. Rivera-Rosario, 300 F.3d 1, 9 (1st Cir. 2002).
And we strictly enforce our English language rules. Puerto Ricans
for Puerto Rico Party v. Dalmau, 544 F.3d 58, 67 (1st Cir. 2008)
("Allowing the outcome of a case to turn on a non-English language
document would be at odds with the premise of a unified and
integrated federal courts system . . . .") (quotations omitted).
Because Oquendo does not object to the accuracy of the translation
of Law 99 -- submitted by HSA -- we accept HSA's translation at
face value. Morales-Madera, 352 F.3d at 8 (translation issue not
before the court where party did not object to translation's
accuracy below and made no claim on appeal that translation was
inaccurate); see also Bordas & Co. v. Pizzaro Serrano, 314 F.2d
291, 292 (1st Cir. 1963) ("[I]t is what the interpreter states on
the record, not what the court may, conceivably, have understood
the witness to say, that must control both the trial and the
appeal.").
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The Puerto Rico Supreme Court deems a judgment final "if
it determines the merits of the controversy or the rights of the
parties, without leaving anything for future determination."
Cortés Román v. E.L.A., 6 P.R. Offic. Trans. 708, 716-17 (1977).
Likewise, a judgment is final "when it terminates the litigation
between the parties on the merits of the case and leaves nothing
to be done but to enforce, by execution, what has been determined."
Id. (quoting Dalmau v. Quiñones, 78 P.R.R. 525, 530 (1955)); see
also Ramos v. Colón, 153 P.R. Dec. 534, 2001 WL 242595 (2001) ("It
is well settled that a 'final' judgment is [t]hat which puts an
end to a judicial claim and from which appeal may be taken."
(emphasis added)).
It is also axiomatic that a final judgment is binding on
the parties to a suit. See Mitchell v. First Nat. Bank of Chicago,
180 U.S. 471, 481 (1901) (noting that a holding "by a court having
jurisdiction of the parties . . . binds the parties . . . so long
as the judgment remains unmodified or unreversed"); see also
Granados Navedo v. Rodríguez Estrada I, 24 P.R. Offic. Trans. 1,
47 (1989) (citing Martin v. Wilks, 490 U.S. 755, 761-65 (1989)).
Similarly, "[t]here is little question that, under the
laws of Puerto Rico and as a general principle of law, a judgment
entered upon a settlement of compromise generally is a final
determination." Sangiovanni Hernandez v. Dominicana de Aviacion,
C. Por A., 556 F.2d 611, 614 (1st Cir. 1977). And the Puerto Rico
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Supreme Court has "repeatedly held that a stipulation signed by
the parties and accepted by the court to end a
litigation . . . constitutes a binding compromise." Ex parte
Negrón Rivera y Bonilla, 20 P.R. Offic. Trans. 63, 77 (1987).
As noted above, the settlement agreement released
Oquendo's claims against Dr. Quiles and the insurance carriers in
exchange for monetary compensation. These claims were settled in
a final and binding manner. With respect to the claims against
HSA, the agreement stipulated that the district court had ruled
that HSA was not entitled to any statutory cap on damages and
therefore, "in the absence of a statutory cap, [HSA's additional]
legal liability would be $105,000." And if the district court
denied HSA's second motion to reconsider, HSA agreed that "the
[d]istrict [c]ourt would enter judgment against [HSA] in the amount
of $105,000." However, the settlement also stated that HSA would
appeal the district court's ruling or seek certification of the
liability limit issue to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court to
"determine whether [HSA] owes plaintiffs $105,000, or whether it
owes plaintiffs nothing."
The district court adopted the parties' settlement and
denied HSA's second motion for reconsideration. At that point,
the district court had "determine[d] the merits of the
controversy," Cortés Róman, 6 P.R. Offic. Trans. at 716-17, and
had nothing left to do but "to enforce . . . by execution" its
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determination. Id. (quoting Dalmau, 78 P.R.R. at 530). The
district court did exactly that. On June 27, 2017, the court
entered partial judgment against HSA for $105,000. The next day,
the court entered final judgment dismissing the remaining claims
against the other defendants and closed the case. HSA was able to
appeal from that judgment only because it was final. Accordingly,
we conclude that the case had been adjudicated and settled in a
final manner before the approval of Law 99 on August 13, 2017. We
must therefore look to the pre-Law 99 version of Article 41.050
applied by the district court to determine the outcome of this
dispute.
C. The Statutory Scheme
The version of Article 41.050 interpreted by the
district court2 states in relevant part (broken up by sentence for
ease of reading):
[1] No healthcare professional
(employee or contractor), and may be included
as defendants in a civil action of claim for
damages for professional malpractice guilt or
negligence caused in the performance of their
profession, while said professional acts in
the compliance of his duties and functions,
including teaching, as employee of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its dependencies,
instrumentalities, the Comprehensive Cancer
Center of the University Puerto Rico and the
municipalities.
2 We use the translation provided by the parties to our court.
We note that the district court interpreted a different
translation, the content of which was substantively the same as
the translation we use here.
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[2] No health professional
whatsoever, either employee or contractor, may
be included for the performance of his
profession in the compliance of his duties and
functions, including teaching, in the neonatal
and pediatric intensive care units, operating
rooms, emergency rooms and trauma wards of the
San Antonio Hospital of Mayagüez, at the
Mayagüez Medical Center- Ramón Emeterio
Betances Hospital-, its Trauma Center and its
dependencies . . . .
[3] The same limits shall apply to
students and residents who use the operating
rooms, emergency rooms, trauma wards and
facilities of neonatal and pediatric intensive
care units of the San Antonio Hospital and the
Mayagüez Medical Center -Ramón Emeterio
Betances Hospital- as teaching workshop and of
university research.
[4] In those cases, the intensive
care professionals and pediatricians of the
neonatal intensive care units; and the
obstetrician/gynecologists and surgeons of
the San Antonio Hospital, Mayagüez Medical
Center -Ramón Emeterio Betances Hospital- and
the corresponding Trauma Center shall be
subject to the limits of liability that Act
No. 104 of June 29, 1995, as amended, [P.R.
Laws Ann. tit. 32, § 3077] establishes for the
State in similar circumstances.
P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 4105 (2013).
The first two sentences of the statute plainly immunize
healthcare professionals from malpractice claims if they meet the
listed professional criteria and work at one of the qualified
facilities, which includes San Antonio Hospital. The fourth
sentence identifies a subgroup of healthcare professionals --
pediatric and neonatal intensive care specialists and
pediatricians and obstetricians/gynecologists and surgeons of San
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Antonio Hospital -- and states that they "shall be subject to the
limits of liability" set forth in Section 3077 of Title 32.
Section 3077, in turn, reads as follows:
Authorization is hereby granted to
sue the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico before the
Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico for the
causes set forth in the following actions:
[1] (a) Actions for damages to
persons or property up to the sum of seventy-
five thousand dollars ($75,000) caused by a
culpable or negligent action or omission of
any official, agent or employee of the
Commonwealth or of any other person acting in
an official capacity within the scope of
his/her duty, office or employment; or actions
for damages for alleged actions of medical and
hospital malpractice of the healthcare
professionals working in the areas of
obstetrics, orthopedics, general surgery or
trauma exclusively at public health
institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities
and/[o]r municipalities, regardless of
whether said institutions are being
administered or operated by a private entity.
[2] When because of said action or
omission damages are caused to more than one
person or when there are several causes of
action to which a single injured party is
entitled, the compensation for all damages
caused by said action or omission may not
exceed the sum of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars ($150,000).
P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 32, § 3077 (2011).
Section 3077 waives immunity in certain cases but also
provides liability-limiting statutory caps on damages. Reading
the statutes together, Section 3077 establishes liability limits
and Article 41.050 explains that said liability limits cover the
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subset of health professionals identified in the last sentence of
Article 41.050.
HSA argues that we must read the statute's last sentence
as extending the liability caps to HSA because Article 41.050
grants immunity to health professionals working at San Antonio
Hospital. This suggested interpretation bends the text of the
statute too far. Article 41.050 extends Section 3077's liability
limits to specified doctors "of the San Antonio Hospital" and
plainly does not extend the liability limits to HSA itself. Law
150 (emphasis added).
Undeterred, HSA argues that Section 3077 independently
grants liability limits to HSA because the statute covers "public
health institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its
agencies, instrumentalities and/[o]r municipalities, regardless of
whether said institutions are being administered or operated by a
private entity." P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 32, § 3077.
That argument fails. Section 3077 does not establish
liability caps for HSA -- Section 3077 authorizes suits against
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in certain circumstances,
including instances of malpractice at public health institutions,
but imposes liability caps. Such an abrogation of immunity (and
its attendant language about the extent of that waiver) has no
independent bearing on a suit against HSA, a private company.
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Nor, for that matter, is HSA a "public health
institution[]." It is a private entity that administers and
operates San Antonio Hospital, which is owned by the Municipality
of Mayagüez. The language on which HSA relies limits Mayagüez's
liability arising from its ownership of San Antonio Hospital. As
the private operator and administrator of San Antonio Hospital,
HSA is not a covered entity within the scope of Section 3077.
Defeated by the plain text of the statutes, HSA asks us
to look beyond the text of the statutes to discern the true intent
of the legislature. But "the clear text of the law is the perfect
expression of the legislative intent." Nw. Selecta, 185 P.R. Dec.
40, 2012 WL 1109131. If a statute's text shows that "the
legislative intent is clear, unequivocal, and free from ambiguity,
we are bound by its terms and need not look beyond its wording."
Id. We decline HSA's invitation to do so.
Nor are we bound by the Puerto Rico court decisions HSA
cites.3 Though cases from Puerto Rico intermediate appellate
courts are "not binding on a federal court sitting in diversity,"
they "are entitled to some weight." Andrew Robinson Intern., Inc.
v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 547 F.3d 48, 55 (1st Cir. 2008).
However, the single Puerto Rico appellate court case HSA cites,
3We note as well that we rely on the cases provided by the
parties. They are responsible for updating the court on any legal
developments that transpire after we hear an appeal, and they have
not brought any intervening law to our attention.
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Nieves Vega v. Hospital San Antonio, No. ISCI201500812, 2016 WL
3391541 (P.R. Cir. May 31, 2016), provides little guidance because
it dealt with the issue of physician immunity under Article 41.050
-- an issue not relevant here.
Because we can resolve the interpretive issues before
us, there is no need to certify the statutory interpretation
questions to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. See Vill. of Bedford
Park v. Expedia, Inc., 876 F.3d 296, 302 (7th Cir. 2017) (declining
to certify question involving "routine questions of statutory
interpretation that this Court is well-equipped to handle").4
V.
The remaining issue requiring our attention is whether
the district court's denial of HSA's Rule 60(b) motion was an abuse
of discretion. Though we style our standard of review as "abuse
of discretion" review, we recognize that, as part of our analysis,
we review factual findings for clear error, questions of law de
novo, and judgment calls for abuse of discretion. Ungar, 599 F.3d
at 83. We conclude that the district court properly denied HSA's
Rule 60(b) motion.
As part of the settlement agreement, HSA only reserved
its rights to appeal to the First Circuit and to request that the
4 Though we conclude that HSA does not benefit from Section
3077's liability limits, this holding is limited to the pre-Law 99
version of Article 41.050. We take no view as to whether Law 99
extends Section 3077's liability limits to HSA.
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First Circuit certify the issue of whether HSA was covered by
Section 3077's liability limits to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.
Because HSA did not reserve its right to file a Rule 60(b) motion
with the district court in the event of an intervening change in
law, the district court held that the settlement agreement
"precludes the Hospital from further pursuing this issue with the
district court in a post-judgment motion."
Denial of the motion was appropriate on that basis.
HSA's only available forum for judicial relief at that point was
the First Circuit. We affirm the denial of the Rule 60(b) motion.
The district court's judgment and order denying the Rule
60(b) motion are affirmed.
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