Coto v. Rafas

18 P.R. 493
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 13, 1912
DocketNo. 754
StatusPublished

This text of 18 P.R. 493 (Coto v. Rafas) 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
Coto v. Rafas, 18 P.R. 493 (prsupreme 1912).

Opinion

Mr. Justice del Toro

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a case of intervention in connection with real property.

The’ plaintiff alleges, in substance, that on December 12, 1909, he bought of Celedonio Cortés, subject to redemption, for the sum of $495.42, which was received by him to his entire satisfaction, a wooden tenement house situate in Puerta de Tierra, and that on January 2, 1910, he bought, also subject to redemption, from said Celedonio Cortés, another wooden tenement house situate in Puerta de Tierra, for the sum of $223.04, which Cortés again received to his entire satisfaction. Both contracts were entered in private instruments and inserted in the complaint. The tenement houses are duly described.

[495]*495That on June 12 and July 2, 1910, the periods fixed for the exercise of the right of redemption expired without having been taken advantage of by the vendor, the sale being thereby perfected and the tenement houses becoming, accordingly, the exclusive property of the plaintiff.

That on June 1, 1910, Zenón Yega brought an action in the municipal court against Celedonio Cortés to recover the sum of $465, which, in a private instrument dated January 4, 1910, Cortés acknowledged owing him. Said private instrument was acknowledged by Cortés before a notary public on the same day that Yega filed his complaint — June 1, 1910. That in order to secure the effectiveness of such judgment as might be rendered in the case the aforesaid tenements were attached as the property of Cortés.

That on June 4, 1910, the plaintiff, Coto Pereira, filed an action in intervention in the municipal court against Yega and Cortés, claiming ownership of the attached tenements.

That Zenón Yega assigned his credit to Eugenio Eafas while the action in intervention was being tried, and the municipal court, having been notified of the assignment, made an order declaring Eafas to be the plaintiff in the case “under the same conditions and subject to all such effects as may exist in, or be derived from, the aforesaid action and its consequences.”

That in said intervention proceedings judgment was rendered in favor of Coto Pereira and the attachment levied on the tenements was ordered to be dissolved.

That Eafas appealed from the judgment, but the appea] was not passed upon as Coto Pereira desisted from his action because he had doubts as to the jurisdiction of the municipal court in the case, by reason of the amount involved therein.

And that the document executed by Celedonio Cortés in favor of Zenón Yega was simulated, the simulation being-described in detail.

The defendant, Eafas, moved that the count of the complaint relative to the simulation of the contract executed be[496]*496tween Celedonio Cortés and Zenón Vega be stricken out, and the court so ruled; but, notwithstanding this, the plaintiff introduced at the trial evidence of the simulation, without opposition on the part of the defendant.

Said defendant, moreover, answered the complaint denying such facts as were detrimental to him, and alleged that when he acquired from Zenón Vega the credit-of $465, said credit had already been passed upon by final judgment.

The district court, after hearing the case, sustained the complaint, and made such other pronouncements as were proper, and from this judgment, rendered on May 31 and entered June 1, 1911, the. present appeal was taken.

In his brief the appellant assigns the following errors:

1. The demurrer based on the ground that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action should have been sustained.

2. The alleged simulation of the contract executed between Cortés and Vega having been eliminated from the complaint, evidence on this point should not have been admitted.

3. It was an error to allow the introduction of private documents to the prejudice of a third party, and

4. The purchase of the tenements by Coto Pereira has not been established.

As to the first error we are of the opinion that the complaint states sufficient facts to warrant the conclusion that the tenements in question are the property of the plaintiff and not of the defendants, and this being the case, as will be seen more clearly upon consideration of the other errors assigned, the demurrer to the complaint was properly overruled.

In regard to the second error we find nowhere in the transcript that the appellant had opposed the introduction of the evidence mentioned. On the contrary, upon an examination of the allegations, the method of procedure in taking evidence, and the judgment of the district'court, the conclusion is reached that the simulation of the contract executed [497]*497between Cortés and Vega, notwithstanding the order to strike it out, was a material fact submitted finally to the consideration and decision of the district court, and it is not on appeal that the defendant and appellant can go against his own acts upon realizing that they may prejudice him.

It is a principle of law that any probatory evidence may be considered by the court, if no objection to the introduction thereof is made. Burton v. Driggs, 20 Wall., 133; District of Columbia v. Woodbury, 136 U. S., 450, 462; Patrick v. Graham, 132 U. S., 627; Coinden v. Doremus, 3 How., 515. This is an application of the maxim consensus tollit errorem. Falero v. Falero, 15 P. R. R., 122.

It is a well-established rule that when the parties, with the approval of the court, are agreed in having a case judged on the theory that a certain matter comes within the issues, such theory cannot be rejected when the case comes before a court of appeal for review. San Juan Light and Transit Company v. Requeña, opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, rendered March 12, 1912.

With respect to the third error we find that this case should be decided in accordance with the general provisions of civil law, since the special provisions of the Mortgage Law are not applicable thereto, owing to the fact that the ownership of the tenements in question was not recorded in the registry in favor of any person.

That Celedonio Cortés was the owner of the two tenements in question; that Zenón Vega brought suit against Celedonio Cortés on June 1, 1910, and to secure the effectiveness of such judgment as might be rendered he levied an attachment on the tenements; that upon effecting the attachment Coto Pe-reira filed his first action in intervention, claiming ownership ■of the tenements, and that after the intervention was filed Zenón Vega assigned his.credit against Cortés to the defendant and appellant, Eugenio Rafas, are facts that have been proven.

[498]*498Tlie plaintiff, Goto Pereira, to prove the ownership alleged by him, attached to his complaint two private documents dated December 12, 1909. The defendant and appellant, Eafas, maintains that he is a third party, and that, therefore, said documents can prejudice him only from the date of their introduction in court, and that such date being subsequent to the attachment levied by his assignor, the attachment should prevail in preference to such right as Goto Pereira may have.

The ownership of the attached property has not been transferred to Rafas.

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Related

Camden v. Doremus
44 U.S. 515 (Supreme Court, 1845)
Burton v. Driggs
87 U.S. 125 (Supreme Court, 1874)
Patrick v. Graham
132 U.S. 627 (Supreme Court, 1890)
District of Columbia v. Woodbury
136 U.S. 450 (Supreme Court, 1890)

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Bluebook (online)
18 P.R. 493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coto-v-rafas-prsupreme-1912.