Carrasquillo v. Municipal Court of Río Grande

35 P.R. 663
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided July 13, 1926·No. No. 3739·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice Hutchison

delivered the opinion of the court.

Maria Matos instituted a proceeding for unlawful de-tainer against Antonio (fiuró, setting up failure to pay rent under an alleged verbal agreement of lease.

[664]*664Defendant, upon being served with, summons, filed a motion for an extension of time within which to prepare his defense. This motion was granted and the preliminary hearing was re-set for January 16, 1925.

On that date counsel for defendant, not having appeared, was notified that the preliminary hearing had been again re-set for January 21, 1925, together with a motion filed by plaintiff protesting against the action of the court in granting defendant’s motion for postponement.

A judgment entered on January 22nd recites the failure of defendant to appear at the hearing on the previous day.

A pleading filed on January 22nd entitled “Appearance of Defendant” requested permission to present at the second hearing oral and documentary evidence, referred to without further identification as being thus tendered in advance of such second hearing.

The answer consists of a general denial and a suggestion that the facts stated in the complaint did not constitute a cause of action. It seems to have been filed on January 22, 1925, after having been placed in the post-office at San Juan on January 20th.

On February 9th defendant filed a motion to- set aside the judgment entered on January 21st upon the ground that in addition to the steps already taken by counsel for defendant as above indicated, and notwithstanding the diligence and activity of defendant, counsel had received a telegram from) the secretary of the municipal court two days after the hearing notifying defendant that his answer had been received after the ease was decided; that this telegram came as a great surprise to counsel; that defendant had a good defense on the merits “which was known not only to defendant who had explained his case to his attorney and had been so informed by such attorney, but also to plaintiff, for as much as she knew that sire had no cause of action because the property in question did not belong to her nor had it been in [665]*665her possession since August, 1924, when it was sold at public auction by the marshal of the municipal court as the result of an action brought against the said Maria Matos for the recovery of money, in which she lost; that these facts were known to the plaintiff and to her attorney; and that the unlawful detainer proceeding had been instituted maliciously and with the knowledge that plaintiff was not the owner of the property in question; that a judgment such as that rendered in the absence of defendant, notwithstanding his appearance in the case and the transmission of his answer, was a great wrong to defendant and was contrary to the ends of justice.”

On March 13th counsel for defendant was notified of an order entered on March 11th which recites that defendant’s motion to set aside the judgment came on to be heard on March 2nd; that counsel for defendant did not appear and that counsel for plaintiff opposed the said motion, and thereupon the same was overruled.

On March 18th plaintiff moved for a writ of possession which was issued on the following day.

The marshal’s return and the report of appraisers endorsed upon this writ indicate that on March 20th the marshal evicted defendant and all other persons upon the property by his order, putting plaintiff in possession thereof, except as to the house occupied by defendant who had two sick children and was therefore permitted to remain in the said dwelling until March 24th, upon which date he was evicted therefrom; that the appraisers not having come to an agreement, the plaintiff named José P. Nazario (the marshal selected Pedro Concepción) and the defendant declined to designate an appraiser, saying that he had nothing there and wanted no appraiser to represent him and that the appraisers named by plaintiff and by the marshal agreed upon a valuation of the property, the result of such appraisal being given in the form of an itemized statement.

[666]*666A month, later Isabelo' Carrasquillo and Miguel Santiago applied to the district court, for a writ of certiorari. The petition contained the following averments and prayer:

“2. That some time in the month of August, 1924, the petitioner, Isabelo Carrasquillo, leased the following property from Genaro Be-tancourt Mujica for the term of two years and at the annual rent of $50.00, payable at the end of each year;
“Rural PROPERTY. — Located in .the ward of Hato Puerco of Loiza, Porto Rico, with an area of nine acres and some rods, bounded on the north by Juan López de Victoria; on the south by Succession Betancourt; on the east by the Canóvanas river, and on the west by the same Succession Betancourt.
“3. That subsequently thereto and on September 22, 1924, the other petitioner, Miguel Santiago, acquired the property - above described by purchase from Genaro Betancourt Mujica, another contract of lease for the term of two years, subject to an extension for an additional year, having been entered into between Santiago and Isabelo Carrasquillo.
“4. In these conditions the lessee, Isabelo Carrasquillo, petitioner herein, took possession of the property, object of the lease, from the date of his first contract with Betancourt, continuing in possession once the same was ratified by Miguel Santiago, the second owner of the property. The petitioner1 continued in possession of the property, cultivating the same, preparing the land for cultivation, fencing the property, buying seeds, and planting sugar cane and minor crops, until March 20th last, when the marshal of the municipal court of Rio Grande, Luis Garcia Pinero, in compliance with-an order of execution of a judgment rendered in an unlawful detainer suit by the lion. Schroder, acting judge of the said municipal court of the judicial municipal district of Rio Grande, in civil case No. 734 prosecuted by Maria Matos against Antonio Ciuró, went to the property ’ ref erred to about 2 or 3 p. m. of said day of March 20th and evicted Isabelo Carrasquillo, one of the petitioners and lessee of the property above described, as well as Antonio Ciuró, the person who had been put in charge of the property by the petitioner, ejecting as well the cattle that the petitioner and his employees had on the property, and putting José R. Nazario in possession of the same, then and there, a person who was not the plaintiff in the action for unlawful detainer. This was done under the assumption that said José R. Nazario was the owner of said property, and in spite of the [667]*667protests of petitioner Tsabelo Carrasqnillo, who alleged to the marshal that he was the lessee of that property which had been leased by him from its former owner, Genaro Betancourt, and lastly from Miguel Santiago, and that Antonio Giuró.was an employee of his who was put in charge of the property.
“5. That the judgment, the execution of which was effected by the marshal, had been rendered by the -Municipal Court, of Rio Grande on January 21, 1925, in a suit in which neither the petitioner Carrasquillo, lessee of the- property, nor its former owner, Genaro Betancourt, nor Miguel Santiago, its present owner and one of the petitioners herein, were parties defendant.
“6.

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Carrasquillo v. Municipal Court of Río Grande, 35 P.R. 663 (prsupreme 1926).

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