Escobar v. Gámbaro

22 P.R. 528
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Escobar v. Gámbaro. Read the opinion of the Court — 22 P.R. Dec. 566
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided June 7, 1915·No. No. 1181·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice Aldrey

delivered the opinion of the court.

Juan de Mata Escobar filed a complaint -in Section 1 of the District Court of- San Juan and on the same day.it was transferred to Section 2. The complaint was against Carlos Gámbaro Mojica,- Ramona Gámbaro Escobar, Agustina Ca-sado and Ramón Martínez as marshal, and alleged that on November 8, 1913, the District Court of San Juan, Section 1, rendered judgment in an action of ejectment, etc., brought against him by Carlos Gámbaro Mojica and Ramona Gám-baro Escobar in the following terms:

“On November 3, 1933, this ease ivas called for trial and only the plaintiff, represented by Attorney Herminio Díaz Navarro, appeared and announced that he was ready to proceed. Thereupon the said plaintiff read his pleadings, introduced his evidence and examined it in proper form, and in order to make the complaint conform [530]*530to tbe evidence introduced and to tbe admissions made of matters in the answer, asked and obtained leave to amend the complaint.
“Taking into consideration the allegations thereof and basing its decision upon the previous findings, the court now adjudges that the law and the facts are in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant and therefore decrees that the rural property described in the eighth allegation .of the complaint as finally amended, belongs to the respective inheritances of Juan de Mata Escobar, Florentina Escobar and Carlos Gámbaro Escobar, and that consequently the present possessor, defendant Juan or Juan de Mata Escobar, must surrender possession to the executor named by Juan de Mata Escobar so that the said executor may proceed, by agreement with the constituted of judicially designated heirs, to liquidate, partition and allot the estates of Juan de Mata Escobar, Florentina Escobar and Carlos Cámbaro according to law.
“The costs, expenses and fees of the attorney for the plaintiff are taxed against the defendants.
“The secretary will enter this judgment and issue the proper writ of execution.
“Done in open court this eighth day of November, 1913, and entered this eighth day of the same month and year. (.Signed) Fé-lix Cordova Davila, Judge of the District Court, Section 1. Attest: C. Marrero, Secretary of the District Court.”

That the said judgment is null and void because it embraces matter foreign to the issue in that it orders the delivery of the property described in the eighth allegation of the complaint as “finally.amended,” which property consists of 369 cuerdas of land, whereas in the third allegation of the said complaint the property claimed is alleged to consist of two parcels aggregating 266.33 cuerdas which Juan de Mata Escobar contributed to the conjugal partnership, and this property joined to the property contributed by the wife, Agustina Casado, constitutes a single property of 395 cuerdas, which is described as a whole. The two properties which are the subject-matter of this litigation are not described in any other manner in the pleadings, in the evidence or in the findings of the court, therefore it cannot be determined what part of the property of 395 cuerdas is made up of the 266.33 [531]*531cuerdas; that in clause seven of the said complaint as finally amended” it is alleged that a portion of the whole property was sold, and in the eighth that by reason of this sale and segregation the property in controversy was reduced, and it is described according to a plan identified and offered in evidence as a property of 369 cuerdas, which description refers to the entire property of 395 cuerdas, less the piece of land sold, and not to the two portions which together make np the 266.33 cuerdas in controversy, for, according to the complaint, these are the only properties which Juan ele Mata Escobar left when he died, therefore the judgment includes the portion contributed by Agustina Casado which was not in litigation; that for the same reasons the judgment decides questions which were not raised and is not in harmony with nor sustained by the pleadings; fchar., moreover, neither the. pleadings nor the evidence raise any legal issue, because no description is given of the two parcels of land left by Juan de Mata Escobar in order that they may be identified, and that the judgment cannot be executed because it orders that the property be delivered to the executrix, Agustina Casado, who was named as such by Juan de Mata Escobar but who by operation of law had ceased to be such many years before the said judgment was rendered.

The complaint also alleges that the defendants are endeavoring to execute the said judgment and that this would deprive the plaintiff of the possession of the property and cause him grave and irreparable damages, because, according to his information and belief, none of the defendants except Martinez has any property with which to answer for the damages which he. will suffer if the execution of the judgment is carried out; that there is a matured mortgage on the property and if the defendants proceed to execute the judgment the mortgagee will institute proceedings to recover the amount due him, which will result to the prejudice of the plaintiff, for he has no funds now with which to pay the said-debt and ' would be unable to obtain the same with the property in liti[532]*532gation, therefore he would lose the property and it is worth much more than the sum secured -by the mortgage.

With the foregoing allegations the complaint concludes with the prayer that the said judgment be set aside and that pending the decision of the questions raised therein, a writ of injunction be granted enjoining the defendants from doing any act to execute the judgment and Agustina Casado from entering into possession of the property. The complaint is verified.

A day having been set by the court for the defendants to appear and show cause why the injunction should not issue, they contended that the injunction should not be granted because the court lacked jurisdiction therefor; that^even if it had jurisdiction the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and that the plaintiff was guilty of negligence. Some days later they filed a demurrer to the complaint.

On June 30, 1914, the court made an order, which was entered in the judgment record on the same day, denying the petition for a writ of injunction, from which order plaintiff Juan de Mata Escobar appealed to this court.

This is all that appears in the transcript of the record for the appeal and it does not contain a statement of the facts approved by the court. However, there was presented with the transcript another document also called a transcript of the record in which the secretary of the lower court certified to the pleadings and some documents in another action brought by Carlos Gámbaro Mojica and Eamona Gámbaro Escobar against Juan de Mata Escobar for the recovery of property and for other purposes. We cannot consider this document because it is not the transcript of the record in which the order appealed from was made. If the facts therein certified to were brought out in the evidence at the hearing on the injunction, they should have been submitted to this court in a statement of facts approved by the lower-court and included in the transcript of the record, and if [533]

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Escobar v. Gámbaro, 22 P.R. 528 (prsupreme 1915).

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