Cochran v. Fernández de Suárez

47 P.R. 666
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedNovember 30, 1934
DocketNo. 6420
StatusPublished

This text of 47 P.R. 666 (Cochran v. Fernández de Suárez) 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
Cochran v. Fernández de Suárez, 47 P.R. 666 (prsupreme 1934).

Opinion

Me. Chief Justice Del Toko

delivered tbe opinion of tbe Court.

Herman L. Cochran, as Trustee in Bankruptcy of Sucesores de L. Villamil & Co., S. en C., and of its managing partners, José León Núñez and Celso Suarez, brought an action of debt against Mercedes Fernández widow of Suárez.

He set out two causes of action. The first be based on the averments that the defendant bad been a silent partner of Sucesores de L. Villamil & Co., S. en C., witb the right to participate in the profits and losses, and that the partnership had remitted funds to her in anticipation of profits, such remittances constituting a current account which was liquidated between the parties on September 13, 1925, leaving a balance of $721.28 in favor of the firm.

From the date of said liquidation until 'April 23, 1932, the partnership “made^ remittances to the defendant” — who has her domicile in Madrid, Spain — “or paid obligations owing by the defendant in the amount of $74,132.65, such sum representing amounts forwarded monthly to the defendant in Spain by said partnership during the period stated on account of rent collected on properties owned by the defendant in Puerto Rico, funds sent to her in anticipation of the share of said defendant in the actual profits earned by the aforesaid partnership, and also expenses incurred by the partnership from September 13, 1925, to April 23, 1932, in the maintenance and preservation of the properties held by the defendant in Puerto Rico, which payments constituted debit entries on the current account between said partnership and the defendant on the books of said commercial firm. ’ ’

During the same period, the partnership credited to the [668]*668defendant on the aforesaid current account the sum of $46,286.15, representing the profits actually accruing to the defendant from the partnership, together with rent and other income collected by the partnership from properties belonging to the defendant.

On April 23, 1932, the current account showed a balance in favor of the bankrupt firm amounting to $28,569.78, which balance forms part of the assets held by the trustee and is due and has not been paid either in whole or in part.

The second cause of action is based on the same facts set up in support of the first cause of action; and it is further alleged that on April 23, 1932, the defendant was owing to Sucesores de L. Villamil the sum of $28,569.78, according to a liquidation of the current account between both parties, rendered to and accepted by the defendant, who undertook to pay the balance which she owes and, which is now part of the assets passing to the trustee appointed by the Federal Court in the bankruptcy case of Sucesores de L. Villamil & Co., S. en C., and the partners thereof, José León and Celso Suárez, and which balance has not been paid either in whole or in part.

On the same day on which the complaint was filed, a motion was presented to secure the effectiveness of any judgment that might be rendered in the cause, and the court then entered the following order:

“On reading the foregoing motion and the record of this case, the court orders the attachment of the real properties and rights listed and described in the motion for attachment under letters A, B, C, D, and E, belonging to the defendant Mercedes Fernández, widow of Suarez, in an amount sufficient to cover the sum of $28,569.78, principal, and lawful interest thereon from April 23, 1932, up to the date of full payment thereof, together with the costs and disbursements which the defendant may incur in this cause.
“In view of the heavy mortgages which encumber the properties belonging to the aforesaid defendant, the court further orders an [669]*669attachment of the rentals produced by said properties and which now belong and are payable to the defendant or her agents in Puerto Rico.
“It is FURTHER ordered that the defendant, Mercedes Fernán-dez, widow of Snárez, and her agents or legal representatives refrain from selling, mortgaging, or alienating in any form the properties and real rights held by the defendant in the Island of Puerto Rico, and described in the motion for attachment.
“Inasmuch as the claim does not appear from an authentic document it is ordered by the court that the plaintiff furnish a bond in the sum of $5,000, to secure the defendant against any damages which may be caused to her by reason of the attachment levied upon her property.
“The clerk will issue the corresponding writ to the marshal of this court for the proper execution of this order.”

The writ having been issued, it was duly returned by the marshal.

The defendant filed two motions: The first, to strike out certain parts of the complaint and to make other parts thereof more specific; and the second, to set aside the attachment. The court denied both motions, without prejudice to defendant’s right to demand a bill of particulars.

The defendant then demurred to the complaint. The demurrer was overruled by the court on March 1st, 1933, with leave to answer within ten days.

At this stage of the proceedings, on March 14, 1933, the plaintiff filed a motion for the appointment of a receiver to administer the properties so attached, and the court granted the motion.

On March 28, 1933, defendant having failed to answer, plaintiff noted her default, which was entered on the same day by the clerk; and on the 25th of the following April plaintiff asked the clerk to enter judgment on the complaint as to the second cause of action. Judgment was accordingly entered on the 27th of the same month of April and notified to the defendant on May 4 following.

[670]*670On June 2, 1933, the defendant took the present appeal from the orders of January 24, 1933, January 25, 1933, March 1, 1933, and from the judgment of April 27, 1933, and in her brief assigned five errors committed, as she claimed, by the court in denying her motion to strike out, in refusing to set aside the attachment, in overruling her demurrer, and in ordering the appointment of a receiver; and by the clerk in entering a final judgment in favor of the plaintiff.

In our opinion, the court did not commit the first error assigned. The matter sought to be stricken out was for the most part immaterial, and the action of the court in denying other portions of the motion which were perhaps proper, does not so nullify the proceedings so that the judgment appealed from must reversed on that ground alone.

As regards the motion to make the complaint more specific, we think that the provision made in favor of the right of the defendant to demand a bill of particulars was sufficient, in view of the surrounding circumstances and of the nature of the suit.

Nor was the third of the errors assigned committed.

The complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Defendant’s obligation to pay to plaintiff the amount claimed appears clearly from the facts as alleged, if they be taken as true, as they must be, for the purpose of the demurrer.

With respect to the misjoinder of causes of action charged, the defect is nonexistent.

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47 P.R. 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cochran-v-fernandez-de-suarez-prsupreme-1934.