Doyle v. Polypane Packaging Co.

80 P.R. 218
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 25, 1958
DocketNo. 12172
StatusPublished

This text of 80 P.R. 218 (Doyle v. Polypane Packaging Co.) 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
Doyle v. Polypane Packaging Co., 80 P.R. 218 (prsupreme 1958).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Pérez Pimentel

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 10 of November 14, 1917 (Sp. Sess. Laws, p. 216), entitled “An Act to determine the procedure in cases of claims for wages by-farm laborers against their employers” —32 L.P.R.A. § § 3101-17 — Robert Doyle filed a complaint in the Superior Court, San Juan Part, against Polypane Packaging Co., Inc. In its answer the defendant admitted some of the facts-of the complaint, denied others, and also claimed from the plaintiff a setoff for damages.

At the opening of the trial the defendant raised the question that the complaint claimed damages for breach of con[220]*220tract and not for earned salaries, wherefore the action should be dismissed. The lower court then proceeded to strike from the complaint certain items which it considered improper of a claim under Act No. 10 of 1917, as well as the setoff claimed by the defendant. One of the items which was eliminated from the complaint was a right of option in favor of the plaintiff to acquire by purchase a certain number of shares owned by the defendant, at a fixed price.

The case was submitted on the evidence for the plaintiff, inasmuch as the defendant relied on the merits of a motion for nonsuit which was denied. Thereafter the court made the following findings of fact:

“1. — On June 1, 1955, the plaintiff and the defendant executed an employment agreement whereby the plaintiff bound himself to work for the defendant under the following conditions :

“a) $8,000 annual salary;
“h) Effectiveness of the contract for one year beginning June 1, 1955;
“e) Year-to-year automatic renewal of the contract, subject to the termination of the contract upon written notice by either party 90 days in advance;
“d) The defendant was bound to pay to the plaintiff, .as additional compensation, 500 common shares to be earned at the rate of 1/6 of the said 500 shares during the first month of employment, and 1/12 thereafter for the following 10 months;
“e) The defendant was also bound to give to the plaintiff, as additional compensation, an option to purchase 500 •common shares at the rate of $3.50 each, to be earned by the plaintiff in the same proportion as the 500 shares above mentioned;
f) The defendant was bound to pay to the plaintiff the sum of $33.33 as differential, and two months’ vacation with pay;

•“2. — Plaintiff’s weekly salary, at the rate of $8,000 annually, was $153.84.

“3. — On March 15, 1956, the defendant dispensed with the services of plaintiff.

[221]*221“4. — The defendant has failed to pay to the plaintiff any of the sums above mentioned, and therefore owes him the following sums for the following accounts:

“(A) The value of 437 common shares;
“(B) The right to purchase 437 common shares in addition to those above mentioned;
“(C) $307.68 covering two weeks’ vacation to which the plaintiff was entitled under the contract made by the parties;
“(D) $16.66 in payment of the differential corresponding to two weeks’ vacation to which the plaintiff was entitled.”

On the basis of the foregoing findings, the court rendered judgment as follows:

“The defendant is hereby ordered to pay to the plaintiff the sum of $324.34 and to deliver to him 437 common shares or the market value thereof; to place at the disposal of plaintiff, at the rate of $3.50 per share, 437 common shares in addition to those already mentioned. The defendant is further ordered to pay to the plaintiff the sum of $500 for attorney’s fees, and the costs incurred by the plaintiff by reason of this proceeding.”

The defendant appealed from this judgment. In order to secure the effectiveness of that judgment, the trial court decreed the attachment of property belonging to the defendant up to the sum of $13,278.54, plus interest and the costs. In compliance with this order, the marshal attached the sum of $6,070.20 which the defendant had on deposit in its account in The Chase Manhattan Bank. The defendant then filed a motion entitled “Motion requesting partial annulment of attachment and for deposit of shares.” It contended that the only sums payable to plaintiff by virtue of the judgment amounted to $825.34; it deposited in the office of the secretary of the court a stock certificate in favor of the plaintiff for 437 common shares owned by it, and another ■certificate giving the plaintiff an option to acquire by purchase 437 additional common shares, and requested that the attachment levied be reduced to the sum of $825.34. After [222]*222a hearing of this motion, the lower court entered the following order:

“In our opinion, the deposit in court of the certificates which appear in the record is equivalent to the prohibition to alienate established by § 2(a) of the Act approved March 1, 1902 (32 L.P.R.A. § 1070). Since the pronouncement relating to the shares contained in the judgment in this case constitutes an obligation to deliver a certain thing, the judgment may be secured only through the prohibition to alienate or its equivalent but not through the attachment of funds, particularly in the case at bar in which the evidence presented is not sufficient to enable the court to determine that it is intended to defraud the plaintiff who obtained judgment, but that an appeal has been taken from that judgment to the Supreme Court. Therefore, it is hereby ordered that the attachment of funds be reduced to the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000).”

Feeling aggrieved, the plaintiff appealed. For present purposes, we will consolidate both appeals and shall first decide the appeal taken from the judgment.

In its brief, the defendant-appellant points out that the principal question involved in its appeal is whether an executive, chief, and general manager of a corporation may file a complaint on the authority of Act No. 10 of November 14, 1917, as amended, and directs its first five assignments of error to the discussion of this question.

Act No. 10, of 1917, supra, establishes a simple and speedy proceeding for those cases in which “a workman or employee shall find it necessary to claim from his employer any equity or benefit, or any sum on account of compensation for work or labor done for said employer, or for compensation in case said workmen or employee has been discharged without justified cause . . . . ” The Act defines both the term “worker” and the term “employee.” As to the latter, the Act says, “and the word ‘employee’ shall comprise all kinds of artisans, employees or clerks of business or industry, in the general acceptation of these last two words.” (32 L.P.R.A. §3102.) There is no dispute in this case as [223]*223to the fact that the plaintiff is an executive. He is not a clerk or an artisan but an employee of an industry. He leased his services to the defendant under a written contract. In extending its benefits to every employee of business or industry, Act No. 10 did not distinguish between the different categories or classes of employees, nor did it therefore exclude from its provisions those who hold executive positions. Cf. Correa v. Mario Mercado e Hijos, 72 P.R.R. 77, 84;

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80 P.R. 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doyle-v-polypane-packaging-co-prsupreme-1958.