Legacy Mortgage Asset Trust 2019-Pr1 v. Sucn Valentin Medina Santos, KLCE202400982

Legacy Mortgage Asset Trust 2019-PR1 filed a lawsuit against María Medina Pantoja and others in August 2022 for collection of money and foreclosure of a mortgage.
During discovery, Pantoja submitted a Request for Admissions to Legacy, to be automatically deemed admitted if not answered within 20 days.
Legacy did not respond or request an extension within the deadline.
Pantoja filed a motion asking the court to deem the admissions as automatically admitted under Rule 33 of Civil Procedure.
The trial court (Bayamón) denied this request and later denied reconsideration.
Pantoja sought certiorari and auxiliary jurisdiction before the Court of Appeals, arguing the trial court abused its discretion.

Issue	Plaintiff's (Pantoja) Argument	Defendant's (Legacy) Argument	Held
Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying the	Failure to timely answer mandates automatic admission; Rule 33	Dispute over procedural handling; court's	Trial court's discretionary management affirmed; no basis
motion to deem admissions automatically admitted under Rule 33	controls, not Rule 34; no order needed for automatic admission.	discretion in discovery process.	for appellate intervention under certiorari.

Audiovisuel Lang. v. Sist. Est. Natal Hnos., 144 D.P.R. 563 (P.R. 1997) (Rule 33 operates automatically for admissions; no need for court order)
JMG Investment v. ELA, 203 D.P.R. 708 (P.R. 2019) (standards for certiorari review of interlocutory orders)
Rivera et al. v. Arcos Dorados, 212 D.P.R. 194 (P.R. 2023) (discretionary nature of certiorari in appellate review)
Citibank et al. v. ACBI et al., 200 D.P.R. 724 (P.R. 2018) (appellate discretion to intervene only for manifest abuse)