Díaz v. Cividanes

25 P.R. 418
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 19, 1917
DocketNo. 1659
StatusPublished

This text of 25 P.R. 418 (Díaz v. Cividanes) 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
Díaz v. Cividanes, 25 P.R. 418 (prsupreme 1917).

Opinion

Mb. Jxjstice Hutchison

delivered the opinion of the court.

On May 26, 1915, Rafael Palés Díaz was appointed judicial administrator of the estate of Rufina Molinaris y Sanchez, and the surviving spouse, Manuel Cividanes, appealed from the order. Genaro Cautiño was then made temporary administrator pending decision of the appeal and served until December 22 of the same year, on which date he resigned with the request that his accounts be approved. On the day following Rafael Palés Díaz was named in the same temporary capacity.

An order dated December 27 outlines the results gathered by the district judge from the books, pass-books, canceled checks, correspondence, and accounts of the administration delivered by Cautiño, allows him a certain amount as commissions earned, comments on the inadequacy thereof, suggests the propriety of a further allowance with the approval of all parties concerned, and directs that such parties be required to state whether they are agreed to such additional compensation.

Another order entered on January 31, 1916, reads in part as follows:

“Whebeas, Genaro Cautiño has resigned the appointment conferred upon him by this court as temporary administrator of the estate of Rufina Molinaris de Cividanes, deceased, making it néces-sary to appoint another person, the court appoints Rafael Palés Díaz to substitute him as such administrator;
“WheReas, According to the report of the said temporary administrator, Palés Díaz, all of the property belonging to the administration has been delivered to him'by Cau'tiño and he observed at [420]*420'the time of such delivery that said property had been greatly improved under the administration of Cautiño;
“WheReas, No claim of any kind has been set up against said Cautiño by the persons interested;
“Therefore, The court discharges said Cautiño from all responsibility of said administration and cancels the bond given by him to secure the faithful performance of his duties as such administrator. ’ ’

On October 4, 1916, pending approval of the accounts rendered by Palés as administrator ad interim, Cividanes, who, pursuant to the decision of this court, had assumed the duties of judicial administrator, moved that Cautiño be required within a definite period to present his accounts as the predecessor of Palés in the temporary administration, or, in the alternative, if such accounts had been presented, as to. which Cividanes professed to be uninformed, then that he be furnished the same for examination. By order of the judge he was notified that Cautiño’s accounts were on file in the clerk’s office since the date of his resignation.

On October 5 appellant moved that pursuant to section 55 of the Law of Special Proceedings- all parties interested in the estate be cited for the final settlement of the accounts of Cautiño, and the court again directed that petitioner be notified that the accounts in question had been duly filed and since the date of such filing had been and were at the disposition of interested parties and open to examination in the clerk’s office.

On January 31, 1917, appellant again moved that the order of January 31, 1917, be set aside and that Cautiño be required to render his accounts in due form, giving Civi-danes an opportunity to contest the' same.

The ruling of the court, in so far as pertinent, reads:

“In regard to the second part of the motion — ’that is, that the mover, Cividanes, be permitted to examine the accounts presented by Cautiño and filed in this court — the court decides to allow Manuel Cividanes to examine said accounts, to take all such notes from the same as he may deem necessary and to examine the balances which appear from the books; but as these accounts were presented in [421]*421due time, were available to the public in the office of the secretary for the time required by law and were approved by the court after notice of their presentation had been posted on the bulletin board of the court, and no objection had been made to them, the court considers that the motion now made to allow objections to these accounts after the parties had all necessary opportunity to mate such objections as they may have thought proper, comes too late.”

The appellant in yet another motion substantially to the same effect sets forth certain additional grounds as follows:

“That the objection to a part of the account presented by Palés in the above-entitled administration is set for to-day.
“That the first account objected to is the account of the Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño and the first objection relates to the form and manner in which the said accounts have been carried and the difficulty which the opposer has had in making a reasonable objection to the same due to the fact that the accounting of Palés cannot be said with certainty to be based on the balances of the accounts presented by Cautiño.
“That the account of Cautiño was approved by this court without hearing the interested parties and although the presumption is in favor of the same, the mover desires an opportunity to examine and object to the said accounts or have a correction made therein which would greatly facilitate the examination of the account of Palés; but this cannot be done unless the court suspend its order approving said accounts and permit Cividanes to examine them and take their balances as a basis for the accounting of Palés.”

Thereupon the court, likewise on January 31, 1917, makes the following statement and concession with conditions annexed:

“The court has heard the motion and the mover.
“It is the desire of the court to give to all the parties an opportunity in this case to examine in detail everything connected with it.
“The court will grant the motion but considers that notice of .the same, together with a copy of the report, should be served on Cautiño, inasmuch as the capacity of Cautiño as administrator is attacked and he should have an opportunity to defend himself.
“In presenting the accounts Cautiño stated to the court that he could not strike a balance because Cividanes refused absolutely to deliver to him the books and vouchers of the latter’s administration, [422]*422henee Cividanes failed to put Cautiño in a position to strike an exact balance by refusing to deliver said books.
“The court considers that it should grant the motion, as it does, and that a copy thereof should be delivered to Cautiño for his information so that he may appear before the court and explain why he did not close the balances. Consequently, the court considers that it should enter the following
“ORDER:

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Bluebook (online)
25 P.R. 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diaz-v-cividanes-prsupreme-1917.