The civil liability system of the Dominican Republic is based on the French Civil Code of 1804. The litigation process is an adaptation of 19th-century French civil procedural legislation, with various updates and modifications. The litigation process is predominantly written, with parties presenting the evidence they wish to be weighed and analyzed by the judge. The mandatory presentation of evidence occurs only exceptionally and under a specific order from the presiding judge.
Litigation processes are divided into two levels of ordinary jurisdiction, where both facts and applicable law are considered, and an extraordinary jurisdiction level before the Supreme Court of Justice, which only evaluates whether the law has been correctly applied. The first level of ordinary jurisdiction is heard before a civil and commercial judge, while the second level is heard before a Court of Appeals, usually composed of 5 judges. Access to the Supreme Court of Justice is restricted to compliance with certain requirements regarding the amount involved and the type of litigation.
Typically, litigation at the first level of jurisdiction takes between 12 and 18 months, and a similar period before the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court of Justice takes an average of 3 years to resolve cases.
Litigation begins with the filing of the introductory act of the complaint, served by a bailiff, through which the plaintiff notifies the defendant of their main arguments and designates the court that will hear the case. The plaintiff must establish the grounds for the complaint and the requests they will assert before the competent court. The defendant has a period of 10 days to respond to the plaintiff, indicating by bailiff the name of the lawyer(s) who will represent them before the court.
The claimant or the more diligent party will request that the court assign a judge to hear the case. The designated judge, at the request of one of the parties, will set the date of the first hearing, which must be communicated to the other party.
The first hearing will take place with the appearance of the lawyers before the presiding judge. Unless incidents arise, the first hearing marks the beginning of debates and evidence presentation, which, as mentioned earlier, will mainly be documentary or written evidence. Oral evidence is very rarely admitted.
Cases handled under commercial procedure benefit from greater flexibility regarding the admission of evidence. When necessary, the judge may order an expertise or expert evidence, by appointing an expert who must submit a report on a specific technical aspect of the case. As many hearings will be held as the judge in charge of the case deems necessary.
The Dominican legal system establishes as a principle that anyone who alleges a fact in justice is obligated to prove it, so the burden of proof falls on the plaintiff. The judge plays a passive role, usually limited to receiving and analyzing the evidence and arguments of the parties and making a decision based on the evidence presented. Exceptionally, the judge may make decisions in the absence of requests or petitions from the parties.
Dominican judges usually favor simple solutions and rarely adopt sophisticated solutions to complex problems. Before appellate and supreme court judges, who have more experience and capacity, conflict resolutions tend to be more elaborate and with a higher degree of rigor and sophistication than before first-instance judges.
The Dominican judge makes decisions based on known facts and evidence provided by the parties. The law grants the judge wide deliberative powers when establishing and fixing the amounts of convictions. This means that the judge is not subject to specific parameters or regulations. They can establish convictions they consider fair, with the sole obligation to explain how they arrived at their decision.
Despite their broad deliberative powers, the Dominican judge is essentially conservative. Damages tend to be very low compared to the average in other countries, even in Latin America.