Libro Tercero Título II. Juicio Ejecutivo

Enforcement proceedings lie when brought by virtue of any of the following titles:

1º.Certified copies of public deeds.

2º.The debtor's judicial confession; as well as deemed confession when there is a beginning of written evidence.

3º.Private documents signed by the obligor or by his representative and recognized or deemed recognized before a competent judge, in accordance with the provisions of articles 98 and 184; and private documents with notarial legalization.

4º.Certified copies of the records of protocolization of protests of commercial and banking documents, or the documents themselves if protest is not legally required.

5º.Notarial record stating the balance outstanding against the debtor, according to accounting books kept in legal form.

6º.Insurance, savings and surety policies, and capitalization titles, issued by entities legally authorized to operate in the country.

7º.All classes of documents that under special provisions have enforcement force.

In addition to the special provisions provided for in this Title and in the following Title, the rules corresponding to enforcement proceedings shall apply.

The titles listed in the preceding article lose their executory efficacy in the same cases provided for by Article 296.

Once the enforcement proceeding has been commenced, the judge shall examine the instrument on which it is based and, if he deems it sufficient and the amount claimed is liquidated and due, shall issue the writ of execution, ordering demand upon the obligor and attachment of property, if such attachment is appropriate; and shall grant the judgment debtor a hearing for five days to oppose or assert their defenses.

If the judgment debtor fails to appear to assert opposition or to raise defenses, upon expiration of the term the judge shall render judgment of sale, declaring whether or not execution is warranted.

If the judgment debtor objects, the judgment debtor shall state the reasons for the opposition and, if necessary, offer the pertinent evidence. Without these requirements, the judge shall not admit the opposition.

If the defendant has defenses to assert, the defendant shall plead all of them in the opposition brief.

The judge shall hear the judgment creditor for two days and, with or without the answer, shall order evidence to be taken for a term of ten days common to both parties, if either of them requests it or if the judge deems it necessary.

In no case shall an extraordinary term of evidence be granted.

Upon expiration of the evidence term, the judge shall rule on the opposition and, as applicable, on all defenses raised. But if the defense of lack of jurisdiction is among the latter, he shall rule on the remaining ones only in the case of having rejected that of lack of jurisdiction.

If the defense of lack of jurisdiction is upheld, the judge shall refrain from ruling on the rest. In this case, one shall wait until the decision becomes final, for the remaining defenses and the opposition to be decided by whoever is competent.

The judgment of Second Instance, in cases in which the defense of lack of jurisdiction was rejected in the First Instance ruling, shall rule on all the defenses and the opposition, provided it does not revoke what was decided on the matter of lack of jurisdiction.

In addition to resolving the defenses alleged, the judge shall declare whether or not there are grounds to order the sale and auction of the embargoed property and payment to the creditor; whether delivery of the thing, performance of the act, its suspension or destruction is appropriate and, where applicable, payment of damage and losses.

When the decision upholds the exception of lack of competence, it shall order the plaintiff to pay costs, but shall declare the attachment to remain in force and shall order that the case file be transferred to the competent judge for the decision of the trial, with all prior proceedings remaining valid.

In the executive proceeding, only the order denying leave to proceed with enforcement, the judgment and the order approving the liquidation shall be appealable.

The Superior Tribunal shall set a day for the hearing within a term not exceeding five days, after which it shall decide within three days, under penalty of personal liability.

The judgment rendered in an executive trial does not pass into the authority of res judicata, and what was decided may be modified in a subsequent ordinary trial.

This trial may only be brought when the judgment rendered in the executive trial has been complied with.

To hear the subsequent ordinary trial, whatever the nature of the claim filed, the same tribunal that heard the executive trial in the First Instance is competent.

The right to obtain review of what was decided in the executive trial lapses three months after the judgment rendered therein becomes final, or after the enforcement proceedings are concluded, as applicable.