Castellón v. Padín

60 P.R. 369
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedMay 18, 1942
DocketNo. 8410
StatusPublished

This text of 60 P.R. 369 (Castellón v. Padín) 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
Castellón v. Padín, 60 P.R. 369 (prsupreme 1942).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Travieso

delivered the opinion of the court.

José Segarra brought an action of debt against Boberto Castellón. An attachment of property having been decreed, Joaquín Padín and Carmen Padín executed, on June 11, 1937, a $3,000 bond, binding themselves to answer.“for any damages that might be caused to defendant Boberto Castellón in the event that it were finally decided that no judgment should be rendered against the defendant in said action.”

On September 15, 1937, the District Court of San Juan dismissed the suit brought by Segarra against Castellón, the judgment becoming final, as no appeal was taken thereupon.

On July 10, 1939, Boberto Castellón brought the present action and alleged that the sureties, Carmen and Joaquin Padín, by simulation, without consideration and for the purpose of defrauding the plaintiff, as their creditor, had conveyed the house respectively owned by them to the defendant Teobaldo Casanova Prats, by a public deed executed on July 2, 1937, thus becoming insolvent by reason of such conveyance and without any other property against which the bond could be enforced. The plaintiff prayed for the annulment of the deed and the rescission of the transfer.

The defendants answered and set up, among other defenses, that the complaint failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. After the case had been called for trial and the demurrer argued, the lower court sustained the demurrer “on the ground that the complaint failed to state that at the time of the alleged conveyance the plaintiff was a creditor of the defendant or that no (sic) obligation existed in his favor,” and allowed the plaintiff ten days to amend his complaint. In the amended complaint, filed on March 20, 1941, the plaintiff alleged:

[371]*371“6. That Joaquín Padín and Carmen Padín, defendants herein, by reason of the furnishing of said bond and of said damages suffered by Eoberto Castellón, plaintiff herein, are indebted to the plaintiff herein, the sum of $3,000, and for the recovery of said sum the plaintiff herein has brought an action' in this court under No. 32,159 against Joaquín Padín, Carmen Padín, and Prudencio Collazo, defendants herein.
“10. That at the time of the said conveyance . . . plaintiff Eoberto Castellón had a claim against defendants Joaquín Padín, Carmen Padín, and Prudencio Collazo for the amount of damages caused to the plaintiff herein in consequence of the attachment levied . . . the defendants Joaquín Padín, Carmen Padín, and Prudencio Collazo having subscribed a bond in favor of Eoberto Castellón, . . ., for the levying of an attachment ...”

The lower court sustained a demurrer for insufficiency directed against the amended complaint, on the grounds that ‘ ‘ There is no allegation as to said bond having been liquidated, or as to what were the damages caused to the plaintiff by reason of said attachement,” and that “The facts as alleged in the amended complaint fail to show that the plaintiff had any claim against the defendants at the time of the commencement of this action or at any other time, which is an indispensable requisite in actions of the kind brought herein.” Holding that the complaint was not susceptible of further amendment, the court, on June 24, 1941, rendered judgment for the defendant. On July 1, 1941, the plaintiff moved for a reconsideration of the judgment and requested leave to file a second amended complaint. Upon both motions being denied, the plaintiff took the present appeal. In support thereof he has assigned twelve errors which we will consider together, as they all bear upon the only essential question involved herein, which we will formulate thus: Had the plaintiff Castellón, from the moment the bond was furnished in his favor, the status of a creditor of the sureties and as such creditor entitled to demand the rescission and annulment of the alleged fraudulent transfer, made by the sureties for the purpose of [372]*372evading the obligation to compensate him for any damages suffered by him in consequence of the attachment?

Before talcing up the consideration of the question raised, let us mark, as important, these dates: (1) June 11, 1937, when the bond was furnished and the attachment levied; (2) July 2, 1937, when the alleged fraudulent conveyance was executed; (3) September 15, 1937, when the judgment dismissing the action brought by Castellón was rendered and the attachment secured by the bond executed by the defendants Padin became void and without effect.

The decisions of this court, cited by the lower court, in support of the judgment and order appealed from, have not been, in our opinion, correctly applied to the facts and circumstances of the case at bar.

In Sucn. of Almazán v. López, et al., 20 P.R.R. 502, 505, 506, the rescission was sought, under §1258 of the Civil Code, Comp. Stat. 1911 (§1243 Civil Code, 1930 ed.), of a contract 'of sale of a condominion in a certain property, on the ground that the same was executed in fraud of the plaintiff creditor. In holding that the complaint was insufficient, this court laid down the rule that:

“. . . there is no doubt that in an action of the nature of the one brought in this ease the complaint should set up: (a) That the defendant is really the plaintiff’s debtor; (6) that .the defendant alienated his property in fraud of his creditors; (a) that the plaintiff has been injured by such alienation; (d) that the plaintiff has no other remedy at law to obtain reparation for the injury suffered than that of seeking the rescission of the contract of alienation.”

In all fbe other cases cited (Fernández v. Riera & Co., Inc., 41 P.R.R. 329; Rodrígues v. Soto, 42 P.R.R. 798; Congress Cigar Co. v. Grau,, 44 P.R.R. 626; Congress Cigar Co. v. Cabrera, 45 P.R.R. 176; Heirs of Drew v. Pinto, 49 P.R.R. 565; Figueroa v. Bonilla, 50 P.R.R. 30; Nine v. Avilés, 53 P.R.R. 471; and Martí v. Hernández, 57 P.R.R. 804) the holding was that in order to be entitled to a rescissory action, as prescribed in §§1243 and 1249 of the Civil Code (1930 ed.), [373]*373it is necessary that the obligation or credit should already exist at the time of the execution of the alleged fraudulent conveyance, that is, that the plaintiff had at that time the status of creditor of the defendant.

In none of the cases cited is it held that for a plaintiff to have a cause of action for the annulment of a fraudulent conveyance, it is an indispensable requisite that the debt or obligation had become due or was demandable at the time of the execution of the alleged conveyance.

In his commentaries on §1291 of the Spanish Civil Code, similar to §1243 of our Civil Code (1930 ed.), in which it is provided that contracts executed in fraud of creditors may be rescinded, Manresa says:

“From what has just been decided we reach the conclusion that the foremost requisite is the existence of a credit, which existence must be prior to the contract, even though the enforcibility of the former might be subsequent to the date of the latter, inasmuch as by foreseeing it the insolvency might be prepared. The date of his credit and its priority regarding the contract, must be proved, in conformity with the ordinary rules, by the person who brings the rescissory action.” Manresa, 4th ed., vol. 8, p.

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Bluebook (online)
60 P.R. 369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castellon-v-padin-prsupreme-1942.