Berríos v. Garáu

46 P.R. 773
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedMay 31, 1934
DocketNo. 5964
StatusPublished

This text of 46 P.R. 773 (Berríos v. Garáu) 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
Berríos v. Garáu, 46 P.R. 773 (prsupreme 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Del Toro

delivered the opinion of the court.

Juan Eafael Berríos, a minor represented by his father, Juan Berrios Ortiz, brought, in the District Court of Gua-yama, an action against Guillermo Garáu to recover $20,000 as damages suffered through the loss of three fingers on the left hand, in an accident that—

“Was due exclusively to the fault, carelessness, and negligence of the defendant, Guillermo Garáu, his agents, employees, or subalterns, said negligence consisting, among other things, in the following :
‘ ‘ (a) In that knowing, as the defendant knew, that the machinery he used in his said bakery was dangerous to the children who, he himself knew, were accustomed to enter said premises and whom he himself allowed to be near said premises, he failed to take the necessary precautions to keep said machinery isolated or otherwise protected in some way so as to prevent children under ten years of age, like the plaintiff herein, from going near it and possibly being injured, as was the plaintiff minor, through curiosity or through the attraction that such machinery has for children, as it had for the plaintiff minor in the instant case.
“(b) Because said defendant, Guillermo Garáu, leased to the father of the plaintiff minor a house contiguous to his said bakery, the patio of which communicated with that of said bakery and had no fence, palings, or barrier, nor any other instrumentality to separate the patio of the said house leased to the father of the plaintiff minor from the patio of the said bakery; and said defendant knew that the plaintiff minor resided with his father in said house and [775]*775often visited said patio where he amused himself playing with other little boys of his own age, less than ten years old; and the door of said bakery, opening on the patio where the plaintiff minor amused himself by playing, was always open, "and no person took care that children like the plaintiff did mot enter said premises of the bakery, nor did any person prevent a minor, like the plaintiff herein, from going upon said place, attracted by curiosity towards the machine that ran by electricity and had cogwheels like those the said machine (levadora) then and there had.
(c) In that the defendant did not at any time warn anyone of the danger run by the children whom he himself saw and who he knew were playing in that place or unfenced patio which he himself had then and there, so near to said machinery in his said bakery; and he collected from the father of the plaintiff minor the sum of $8 a month, as rent on the house which he leased to him in said place, without said child being familiar with said machinery, which was dangerous per »e, not only to children like the plaintiff but even to adults, and without having any person in charge of said machine or any contrivance to separate it from a place so accessible to anyone as that where the machine was, where children such as the plaintiff were likely to come so near it that it might cause them injuries similar to those which it then and there caused the plaintiff minor.”

The defendant answered. The ease went to trial, considerable evidence was introduced, and the court rendered judgment against the plaintiff. The latter assigns four errors in his brief on appeal from that judgment.

The first error is formulated thus: “The District Court of G-uayama erred in denying the plaintiff’s motion for a judgment in his favor on the pleadings.”

The complaint is verified, and the above-transcribed allegations were denied in the answer, thus:

“The defendant denies everything set forth in the fourth (duplicate) count of the complaint, not only in its preamble but also in paragraphs A, B, and C, including those conclusions contained in each one of said paragraphs A, B, and C.”

Based on that fact, the plaintiff moved the court to render judgment in his favor, retying on sections 110 and 113 of the Code of Civil Procedure and the cases of Fernández v. Ruiz [776]*776Soler et al., 27 P.R.R. 74, Santiago v. Cabán, 23 P.R.R. 472, Delanoy v. Blondet, 22 P.R.R. 217, and Horton et al. v. Robert, 11 P.R.R. 168, all of which uphold the doctrine that where the complaint is verified, the denials contained in the answer must he specific, and if they are not and no new facts constituting a defense are alleged, the facts averred in the complaint shall he taken as true, and a judgment on the pleadings may he rendered on motion.

The defendant objected:

“1. Because the denial in the answer is sufficient;
“2. Because, even if it were not so, the special defenses set up by the defendant controvert the allegations of the complaint; and
“3. Because, even admitting that it was not so, the plaintiff has lost his rights (a) because he has failed to present a motion for a judgment on the pleadings, and (b) because he offered evidence tending to support those allegations which he now says were admitted. ’ ’

The district court decided against the plaintiff the question raised; and correctly so, in our opinion.

In the first place, the motion came too late. In the case of Ana Maria Sugar Co. v. Castro et al., 28 P.R.R. 225, 243, this court said:

“ . . . The appellant also maintains that the court should have rendered judgment on the pleadings. In the first place we are of the opinion that a motion for judgment on the pleadings should be made before the case is called for trial for similar principles that are contained in People v. Paris, 25 P.R.R.. 104. It is to be presumed that if the complainant goes to trial without raising a question of the sufficiency of the answer, either by such a motion or by a motion to strike, he is satisfied with the issues raised. In the interests of justice such a motion should not come as a surprise at the trial.''

In the second place the defendant in his answer did not confine himself to the denial referred to. He set up twelve special defenses which we have examined, and we agree with the trial court that they constitute a sufficient denial of and [777]*777-opposition to all the facts alleged in the complaint, the defect being thereby cured. In the ease of Fajardo v. American Railroad Company, 27 P.R.R. 559, this court held:

“Although the defendant denied generally the second count of the first cause of action, yet, as it set up matter which is a complete •denial of all the particulars contained therein, the allegations were thereby specifically denied, for the averments in an answer contrary to the allegations of the complaint are equivalent to a denial; therefore the lower court did not commit the error assigned. Hill v. Smith, 27 Cal. 476; Pfister v. Wade, 69 Cal. 133; Perkins v. Brock, 80 Cal. 320; Burris v. People’s Ditch Company, 104 Cal. 248; Stetson v. Briggs, 114 Cal. 511.”

There was no error. The second, third, and fourth assignments may be considered jointly.

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Related

Hill v. Smith
27 Cal. 476 (California Supreme Court, 1865)
Pfister v. Wade
10 P. 369 (California Supreme Court, 1886)
Perkins v. Brock
22 P. 194 (California Supreme Court, 1889)
Burris v. People's Ditch Co.
37 P. 922 (California Supreme Court, 1894)
Stetson v. Briggs
46 P. 603 (California Supreme Court, 1896)
Jensen v. Wetherell
79 Ill. App. 33 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1898)

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Bluebook (online)
46 P.R. 773, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berrios-v-garau-prsupreme-1934.