Agosto v. Porto Rican Express Co.

47 P.R. 853
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJanuary 17, 1935
DocketNo. 5925
StatusPublished

This text of 47 P.R. 853 (Agosto v. Porto Rican Express Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Agosto v. Porto Rican Express Co., 47 P.R. 853 (prsupreme 1935).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Aldrey

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The private corporation Porto Bican Express Company took this appeal from a judgment ordering it to pay a certain amount of money to plaintiff Félix Agosto as damages for the death of his son Esteban Agosto, which happened on October 25, 1927, when he was seventeen years old, in consequence of injuries received in a collision between him and a truck used by the appellant in its business.

One of the grounds for this appeal, as averred by the appellant corporation, is that the lower court committed an error in weighing the evidence when it concluded that there did not exist a valid contract of compromise between the parties to this suit in regard to the cause of action exer[854]*854cised by the plaintiff. Of course, we will study and decide this question because if the compromise was proved, then it will be unnecessary to decide whether this accident occurred due to the carelessness or negligence of the employer of the appellant, since the contract of compromise is one which according to Section 1717 of the Civil Code has, between the parties, the authority of res judicata.

The trial of this cause took place in the District Court of Humacao on January, 1931.

Esteban Agosto was the son of Félix Agosto and his wife, Sabina Valentin. He lived with them in the town of Ceiba, where the accident that occasioned this suit and his death, occurred.

Ramón Arias, who lives at San Juan and is an employee of the Maryland Casualty Company, who in turn insured the truck of the defendant against accidents, testified at the trial that he went to the town of Ceiba on October 26, 1927, and made an investigation of the accident occurred to Esteban Agosto. That in the afternoon he went to the cemetery where they were burying the deceased, and that he spoke there with Félix Agosto and offered him his condolence for the death of his son, and further told him to go to his office in San Juan, when he deemed it convenient, in order to arrive to an amicable compromise, that he did it because it is the company’s policy to compromise, if possible, even though not liable for the accident: that the conversation took place in the presence of a brother of Félix Agosto, who advised an amicable compromise with the company; that on the second day of next November, seven days later, Félix Agosto, Cristino Meléndez, and Luis Ramos came to his office at San Juan; that he had not met the other two persons before; that they told him they came to speak about the son of Félix Agosto; that the latter and Luis Ramos, who acted as his lawyer, asked for $1,000 as settlement, but that after several offers on both sides the3¡r arrived to the amount of $650; that a document with its copy was drawn up wherein Félix [855]*855Agosto, in consideration of said amount, relieved and released tlie defendant of all liability for the death of his son Esteban; that on said document Félix Agosto made his'mark —because he does not know bow to sign — and Cristino Me-léndez signed as witness; that when Luis Ramos was also going to sign, the witness thought that said release should also be signed by the wife of Félix Agosto and he told them so, and also told them that he was willing to go to Ceiba to get that signature; that another similar instrument with copy was drawn up in order to get the signature of both spouses; that the four of them left that afternoon at five o’clock for Ceiba for that purpose, where they arrived at seven P. M.; that on the way this witness told Félix Agosto to explain to his wife the compromise he had entered into; that upon arriving to Ceiba the four of them went to the house where Félix’s wife was with other people; that Félix Agosto told his wife Sabina Valentin of the compromise he had entered into with the company for $650, to which she answered that whatever he did was all right, and she made her mark in the instrument and its copy; that thereafter the four of them left for Cristino Meléndez’s home where Félix Agosto made his mark in the document his wife had signed, and Cristino Meléndez and Luis Ramos signed as witnesses; that he read to them this release and gave to Félix Agosto a check of the insurance company for $650, drawn in the name of both spouses; that he told the plaintiff how they should indorse it, writing on its back what the indorsement should contain; and that he did not return to Ceiba after the burial of Esteban Agosto until November 2, at night, when he went with the three people that had gone to San Juan.

There appears in the record a document with its copy wherein Félix Agosto, in consideration of the amount of $650, relieves the defendant of liability for the death of his son Esteban. Both the original and the copy are marked with a cross between the words “Félix Agosto,” and there appears also a signature that reads “Cristino Meléndez.” [856]*856There is also another document with its copy wherein Félix Agosto and Sabina Valentin relieve the defendant from liability for the aforesaid accident, which document is marked with a cross between the words “Félix Agosto,” and with another one between the words “Sabina Valentín,” and they bear signatures that read “Cristino Meléndez” — “Luis Ramos.” Those documents and their copies are printed, with blanks filled with a typwriter. The text thereof is in English and Spanish, and the Spanish is given preference in the printed matter, for it appears in larger type than the English, and the blanks typewritten are in Spanish only. A check for $650 was' also offered, made out in yellow paper to the order of Félix Agosto and Sabina Valentin.

The evidence of the plaintiff concerning the compromise consisted in his testimony, that of his brother Gil, and that of Cristino Meléndez.

Gil Agosto testified in regard to the conversation had by him and his brother Félix with Arias, who told them that the Express Co. was insured and that they would be indemnified; that Arias gave them his name so that they would go to San Juan, and told them not to give the case to a lawyer because the money belonged to the family if they made the compromise; that when he spoke in that sense it was about a money settlement; and that after that day he saw Arias go by in an automobile very often.

Cristino Meléndez and the plaintiff live in Ceiba. They went with Luis Ramos to Arias’ office, in San Juan, on November 2, and the three of them returned to Ceiba with Arias. They arrived to plaintiff’s home at seven P. M., and the four of them entered to the parlor where Sabina Valentin, the wife of Félix Agosto, was with other people.

Cristino Meléndez testified concerning the settlement that he went to San Juan with Luis Ramos and Félix Agosto because he told him that he wanted him to go there since they had gone to get his testimony two or three times. After this statement the following questions were asked to and an[857]*857swered by Cristino: ‘ ‘ Q. — And if yon had no interest in this matter, why did you make a trip to San Juan together with Félix Agosto, and thereafter you came to Ceiba and signed those documents? A. — He told me when I was leaving for San Juan that same day, to go there with him that I might show him the number of the house, and I told him that I did not know very well, but that Luis Ramos knew how to read, and we were going together and he told me: ‘Let us go, that I am going to show you.’ Q. — You don’t know how to read? A. — No, sir. Q. — And you went with Félix Agosto as an expert and you don’t know how to read? A. — Luis Ramos went.

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47 P.R. 853, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/agosto-v-porto-rican-express-co-prsupreme-1935.