Cerámica Roma Inc (the plaintiff) claimed for damage to a cargo of tiles carried from Italy to Puerto Rico by Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica SA (CCNI). The container was discharged in San Juan on 24 December 2003 and transported the same day by truck to the plaintiff’s warehouse. The tiles were damaged, and due to the high risk of discharging them from the container, they remained inside the container for over a year. The plaintiff alleged that it had sent several communications and claim letters to Inchcape Shipping, the agent of CCNI in Puerto Rico, but it denied responsibility.

The plaintiff filed a lawsuit on 16 March 2005 against the carrier and its agent alleging negligence in the care and supervision of the cargo. CCNI appeared in the process and alleged the claim was time-barred according to s 4(6) of the US Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA) (art 3.6 of the Hague Rules), which established a one-year time limitation period. The first instance Court admitted this defence and declared the claim against CCNI time-barred. The plaintiff appealed the decision before the Court of Appeal (CA), alleging that the one-year time bar was interrupted by the extrajudicial claims made to the defendant, the last one effected on 9 June 2004.

Held: The CA affirmed the decision.

The CA stated that federal maritime law applies to every dispute related to maritime law, which makes COGSA applicable to this claim. Section 4(6) of COGSA establishes that the time limit to file a claim for maritime cargo damage is one year counted from the date of the delivery or the date on which the cargo should have been delivered. This period is an elapsing one (caducidad) which does not admit interruption. Likewise, the one-year time bar established in the Puerto Rico Code of Commerce is only interrupted by the presentation of the lawsuit and does not recognise extrajudicial claims as a method to interrupt the time bar. Therefore, the lawsuit was filed outside this period and the claim was time-barred.