Supreme Court of Puerto Rico Addressed the Legal Framework of Deference to Administrative Agencies

On May 21, 2025, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico had the opportunity to address the judicial deference that was traditionally given to administrative decisions. In Vázquez v. Consejo de Titulares, 215 D.P.R. ___, 2025 TSPR 56 (2025), the Court held that although previously there was a conception that determinations issued by administrative agencies were difficult to challenge in court because of the deference that was traditionally given to administrative decisions, courts have the ultimate and final say regardless of what the administrative agency determined. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court based its determination on the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Loper Bright Enterprise v. Raimondo, 144 S.Ct. 2244, 219 L.Ed.2d 832 (2024), which overruled the Chevron deference doctrine that generally required courts to accept the interpretations made by the administrative agencies where the statute that the agency administered was ambiguous and the agency’s interpretation was deemed reasonable. 

Plaintiffs petitioned the Department of Consumer Affairs (“DACO,” for its Spanish acronym) to invalidate a decision in which an owner was selected as the administrator for the parties’ condominium. DACO determined that the administrator’s election was not one of a manager but a contractor; therefore, a contract for professional services was necessary. This, in turn, would require three service proposals to be considered. Consequently, DACO ordered the convening and holding of another assembly to present two additional proposals and select the condominium’s administrator.  

The Council of Owners and Board of Directors of the Condominium (“Board of Directors”) submitted a motion of reconsideration to DACO to determine that Article 58 of the Puerto Rico Condominium Act, Act. No. 129 of August 16, 2020, as amended, could not be applied in this case because based on Colon Ortiz V. Asoc. Cond. B.T.I., 185 D.P.R. 946 (2012), the administrative agent is a manager and not a general contractor. DACO denied this motion and the Board of Directors decided to take this argument to the Court of Appeals. 

The Court of Appeals revoked DACO’s administrative decision, as it determined that despite what the DACO had decided, the article did not apply in the case of representatives/managers but only in cases where a person was contracted in exchange for a service. The plaintiffs along with DACO filed a writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, specifically citing the administrative agency’s deference and expertise in the Condominium Act and claiming that the Court of Appeals erred by not upholding its original decision. In reviewing the lower court’s judgment, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision. 

Through this opinion, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court makes it clear that when faced with a petition for administrative review, courts shall review the agency’s conclusions of law in all its respects, not guided by the previous automatic deference but by the interpretative mechanisms inherent to the judiciary. 

*Gabriela Bartolomei is a Law Clerk in Littler’s San Juan office.