President Promulgates Law the Seeks to Ease Judicial Processes

Dominican President Leonel Fernández, promulgated Law 491-08 which seeks to prevent civil proceedings required to be heard by the Supreme Court of Justice to delay and extend over the allocated period of time for their solution.

establishes “that which constitutes a right for those being tried in courts and a fundamental guarantee of respect for the law which implies that a suppression of such an exercise should be rigorously limited in private cases which have been thus dictated.”

This law modifies Articles 5, 12 and 20 of Law 3726 dating from December 29, 1953 and others that since modified them on these points.

In its preamble, the law establishes “that an appeal for cassation in many cases has often been used by litigants who are seeking no other purpose than to delay the resolution of the issues at hand at the expense of others who demand attention from the court system,” according to the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

Another consideration establishes “that which constitutes a right for those being tried in courts and a fundamental guarantee of respect for the law which implies that a suppression of such an exercise should be rigorously limited in private cases which have been thus dictated.”

Other aspects of the new legislation establishes that in material concerning civil, commercial, real estate, contentious-administrative and contentious-tax appeals the cassation appeal shall be brought by a memorial signed by counsel and which shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Supreme Court within 30 days. Similarly, default judgments will also be counted for 30 days from the day the opposition was admitted in court.

The legislation initiative was presented by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Julio Cesar Valentín.