Canales Melecio v. Chévere Martínez

76 P.R. 26
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 16, 1954
DocketNo. 11004
StatusPublished

This text of 76 P.R. 26 (Canales Melecio v. Chévere Martínez) 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
Canales Melecio v. Chévere Martínez, 76 P.R. 26 (prsupreme 1954).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Pérez Pimentel

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In the morning of August 4, 1951 at Quisqueya Avenue, in front of Las Monjas Race Track, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, a Ford vehicle, truck model, ran over Damián Canales Mele-cio, causing injuries in different parts of his body, including one in his left ankle with fracture of the second, third, fourth, and fifth metatarsals and in the proximal phalanx of the fifth toe of his left foot.

Canales Melecio filed a complaint in the former District Court, San Juan Section, against Alfredo Chévere Martínez, as driver of the vehicle, against the Caribbean Dairy Inc., as owner of the vehicle and against the Commercial Insurance Co.1

[28]*28Defendants answered denying the essential averments of the complaint and pleaded certain affirmative defenses.2 A trial was held on the merits and the trial court rendered judgment ordering defendants to pay jointly to plaintiff the sum of $1,530 plus costs and $150 for attorney’s .fees, after setting forth the following findings of fact:

“1.- — -The plaintiff is of legal age and a resident of the municipality of Río Piedras, Puerto Rico; the codefendant Alfredo Chévere Martínez, is of legal age, chauffeur and a resident of the municipality of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico; the codefend-ant Caribbean Dairy Inc. is a firm which operates under that name with offices at No. 1 Santa Ana Street, Santurce, Puerto [29]*29Rico; the codefendant Commercial Insurance Co., is an insurance company represented by its agents Insular Underwriters Corp., with offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“2. — On August 4, 1951, the codefendant Caribbean Dairy Inc., was the owner of a Ford V-8 vehicle, Truck F-7 model, license H 80-572, which was driven on that day, between six and seven a. m. by its employee, Alfredo Chévere Martínez.
“3. — On August 4, 1951, at about 6:30 a.m. plaintiff left his house and was on his way to work along Quisqueya Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, walking on the right-hand side of the street.
“4. — Said Ford V-8 vehicle Truck F-7 model, license H 80-572, owned by the codefendant Caribbean Dairy Inc., and driven at the time by the codefendant Alfredo Chévere Mar-tínez in the course of his employment, as employee of the codefendant, was running at that same time and at considerable speed, along the aforesaid street in the same direction as plaintiff, without sounding the horn or taking any precautions, and upon approaching the place along which plaintiff was walking, the defendant swerved to the right at the very place where plaintiff was walking, and hit him on the back causing him to fall to the ground upon receiving the impact.
“5. — At the time of the accident there were no other vehicles travelling at the place along Quisqueya Avenue where the accident occurred; the automobile of codefendant was the only one travelling at that time and had enough space to continue its journey without interruption, without there being any reason why he should swerve to the right and invade the place at the public thoroughfare along which plaintiff was walking.
“6. — As a result of the accident the plaintiff became unconscious and was taken to the Municipal Hospital of Santurce by the codefendant Chévere Martínez and his companion, Pedro Meléndez, where he was assisted and treated for his bruises and fractures, in different parts of the body, being removed to his home on the same day of the accident after having been treated by the personnel of the hospital.
“7. — As a result of the accident the plaintiff suffered bruises on his back and in his right arm, erosions in his left ankle and fractures in his second, third, fourth and fifth metatarsals and in the proximal phalanx of his left toe, as well as several minor injuries in other parts of the body. His left foot was put in a cast for five weeks. From his own house [30]*30he had to go to the hospital for treatment for two months, being finally discharged two and a half months after the accident. He suffered severe physical pain and moral ang'uish, and- although he was cured of the bruises in his back and his right arm and of the erosions in his ankle, he still feels pain when he walks on his left foot.
“8. — Plaintiff has a permanent partial disability of his left foot as a result of the accident, this incapacity giving rise to plaintiff's functional weakness when walking on that foot.
“9. — The accident was solely and exclusively due to the fault and negligence of the agent of codefendant Caribbean Dairy Inc., who was driving and operating its automobile when the accident took place.”

Feeling aggrieved, the defendants appealed to this Court and In their brief allege the commission of the following-errors :

“1. — The lower court erred in rendering judgment against codefendant Commercial Insurance Company and in ordering it to pay compensation.
“2. — The lower court erred in rendering judgment against the Caribbean Dairy Inc., and ordering it to pay compensation.
“3. — The lower court erred in rendering judgment, contrary to the evidence, against the three defendants.
“4. — The lower court erred in assessing plaintiff’s physical and moral damages in the excessive amount of $1,500, and $30 for all his medical expenses and car fares.”

The only averment in the complaint regarding the codefendant, Commercial Insurance Co., is to the effect that it is an insurance company represented in Puerto Rico by its agents Insular Underwriters Corporation (see footnote 1, supra) ; but it does not allege the existence of any privity between the codefendant and the owner of the vehicle which caused the accident.3 This by itself would not be fatal if such privity would appear from the evidence since in that case the complaint may be regarded as amended to conform to the evidence. Portela v. Saldaña, 39 P.R.R. 490; D’Azizi [31]*31v. Alcaraz, 40 P.R.R. 898; Franqui v. Fuerte Hnos., 41 P.R.R. 221; Heirs of Franceschi v. González, 46 P.R.R. 41; Almodovar v. Acosta, 43 P.R.R. 191; Díaz v. Garcia, 47 P.R.R. 448; Longchamps v. Franceschi, 56 P.R.R. 662; Font v. Viking Construction Corp., 58 P.R.R. 691.

This brings us to consider all the evidence introduced herein. That of the plaintiff consisted of his own testimony, and of witnesses Alvaro Osorio, Dr. Iván H. García and Dr. Raúl A. Armstrong. As documentary evidence he produced a certificate issued by the Head of the Automobile Division of the Department of Public Works, setting forth that on August 4, 1951 the motor vehicle, license H 80-572, Ford V8, Truck F-7 model, was registered under the Caribbean Dairy Inc. This evidence, as a whole does not refer, even remotely to the codefendant, Commercial Insurance Co. The plaintiff and the witness Octavio Osorio merely described the accident, which according to Osorio was caused by a vehicle “which was a van, truck model, with a big frame — used for selling milk.” “It was a Ford, in good condition.” The other two witnesses of the plaintiff, Drs.

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Bluebook (online)
76 P.R. 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/canales-melecio-v-chevere-martinez-prsupreme-1954.