Álvarez v. Registrar of Property of Caguas

75 P.R. 391
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedOctober 28, 1953
DocketNo. 1300
StatusPublished

This text of 75 P.R. 391 (Álvarez v. Registrar of Property of Caguas) 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
Álvarez v. Registrar of Property of Caguas, 75 P.R. 391 (prsupreme 1953).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Ortiz

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The property involved in this administrative appeal is located in the city of Caguas and has already been the object of several litigations, which have been submitted for decision to this Court. Jiménez v. Registrar, 62 P.R.R. 835; Jiménez v. Álvarez, 69 P.R.R. 299; Álvarez v. Jiménez and Miranda, case number 10395, of this Court, per curiam opinion of January 8, 1952. The brief history of this estate, so prolific in litigation and registration controversies, is as follows, as appears from the records of the Registry of Property of Caguas and from the opinion of this Court in Jiménez v. Álvarez, 69 P.R.R. 299, from which we copy at length from page 301 et seq.:

[392]*392“In 1904 Modesto Solá recorded the house in his favor by virtue of a possessory title proceeding which in that year he instituted in the Municipal Court of Caguas. In the petition he alleged' and at the trial he testified, together with his witnesses, that he had built a house on a lot belonging to the Municipality of Caguas, whose usufruct had been granted to him by the municipality in 1898. The Mayor was notified of this proceeding as legal representative of the municipality2 and he made no objection.
“Modesto Sola sold the house to Ildefonso Solá Caballero and at the death of the latter’s wife it was adjudicated to him as his share in the community property. By deed of December 10, 1923 Ildefonso Solá Caballero sold it to Ramón Díaz Reyes, who, with the consent of his wife, mortgaged it on that same day. in favor of Bartolomé Esteva. The mortgage was foreclosed and the house was adjudicated to Esteva by a deed of sale of July 7, 1936. On the 30th of that month it was recorded in his favor.
“On September 2, 1936 Diaz Reyes claimed the homestead right which he alleged he had in the house and entered a notice of lis pendens in the registry of property. While this suit was pending, Bartolomé Esteva sold the house to Isidoro Álvarez and his wife, who are the present owners, by deed of December 1, 1936 and on the following day it was recorded in their favor. Lastly, by deed of January 2, 1937 Ramón Díaz Reyes and his wife settled the homestead suit with Isidoro Álvarez. As a result of this settlement Diaz Reyes received from Isidoro Ál-varez the amount of $500 in payment of his homestead. It was further agreed that he would continue to live the mirador until March 31, 1937 without paying any rental whatsoever and that upon vacating the mirador Álvarez would pay him $50 in addition to the aforesaid $500.
“We shall go back in the statement of the facts, in order to consider the vicissitudes which irrespective of the house, were experienced by the lot. After the house was mortgaged to Es-teva but while Diaz Reyes was owner thereof, the latter, on May 27, 1935 bought the lot from the Municipality of Caguas for the price of $1.00. Notwithstanding his having purchased the lot, he concealed the fact to the point that when he was dispossessed of the house, he claimed the right of homestead, but took no steps in connection with the lot. Five years after he received the homestead money, he presented the deed of sale of the lot [393]*393to the registry of property. Record was denied and he did not appeal from the Registrar’s decision. Subsequently he sold the lot to Santos Jiménez Solá on March 19, 1943. On this same day the latter presented his title in the registry of property and. record was denied on the ground that the lot had not been previously recorded in favor of the vendor. In order to expedite the inscription of his title, Jiménez Solá presented the deed of sale executed by the municipality in favor of Diaz Reyes. Record was again denied, among other grounds, because it appeared from the registry, according to the Registrar, that when Diaz Reyes purchased the house on December 10, 1923, he also acquired what the registrar called ‘right inherent’ to the lot; that when he mortgaged the house to Esteva the mortgage was made extensive to the rights he had acquired on the lot, pursuant to the third paragraph of § 107 of the Mortgage Law; that when the mortgaged property was adjudicated to Esteva in payment of his mortgage, the latter acquired all the rights that Diaz Reyes had on the mortgaged property, and finally, because when the deed in favor of Jiménez Solá was presented in the registry, the house, as well as the rights on the lot appeared recorded in favor of Isidoro Álvarez. Jiménez Solá then appealed to this Court. The decision of the Registrar was reversed and the registration of the title of the lot was ordered in favor of Diaz Reyes on July 14, 1943. Jiménez v. Registrar, 62 P.R.R. 335.
“After the administrative appeal was decided, the Registrar, on July 29, 1943, at the request of Isidoro Álvarez entered a marginal note to the first inscription converting into one of ownership the record of possession of the house. Said note also stated that Álvarez had acquired the usufruct of the lot by the lapse of twenty years since the first entry of the property without the prescription having been interrupted.
“The Registrar was notified of the decision rendered by this Court in the administrative appeal, but failed to comply with the terms thereof, and instead on August 3, 1943 he recorded, under the eleventh entry, the naked ownership of the lot in favor of Diaz Reyes and on that same day he recorded it in favor of Jiménez Solá under the twelfth entry.
‘“Jiménez Solá appealed to this Court for the second time. His administrative appeal was dismissed on November 4, 1943 for lack of jurisdiction. The lack of jurisdiction consisted in that the appeal did not seek a review of the refusal by reason of an incurable defect or of a record made with a curable defect. What appellant prayed for was that a certain record be annulled [394]*394and a new one made which might affect the rights of other persons. Jiménez v. Registrar, 62 P.R.R. 522.
“As a result of this decision, on June 27, 1944, Jiménez Solá filed a complaint in the District Court of Caguas against the Registrar seeking a declaratory judgment to determine whether said officer was right in recording the naked ownership and not the perfect ownership of the lot in favor of the plaintiff. On June 12, 1945 he amended the complaint joining Isidoro Alvarez as party defendant, but later abandoned the suit because on July 6, 1945 the registrar, at the request of Jiménez Solá, cancelled by way of marginal notes the 11th and 12th entries of the naked ownership and on that same day made the 13th and 14th entries. Under the 13th entry he recorded the ownership of the lot in favor of Diaz Reyes. By the other, in favor of Jiménez Solá, his successor in title. As a ground for entering said cancellations he stated that he had committed material and substantial errors in entering the 11th and 12th inscriptions.
“Having thus prevailed over the registrar and armed with the 14th entry which declared him owner of the lot in fee simple, Jiménez Solá demanded of Isidoro Alvarez, on July 19, 1945, to sell him the house. Alvarez refused. Jiménez Solá then instituted this action which was decided against defendant.”

As we have seen the problem is twofold, one as to the house and the other regarding the lot.

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Bluebook (online)
75 P.R. 391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alvarez-v-registrar-of-property-of-caguas-prsupreme-1953.