Lloveras v. Landrón

37 P.R. 335
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 26, 1927
DocketNo. 4045
StatusPublished

This text of 37 P.R. 335 (Lloveras v. Landrón) 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
Lloveras v. Landrón, 37 P.R. 335 (prsupreme 1927).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Franco Soto

delivered the opinion of the court.

The facts in the present case up to the report of the sale are the same as those related in the case of Rodríguez et al. v. Ramón Alonso et al., ante, page 322. However, in the present ease there is another fundamental cause for declaring the sale null and void.

In the proceedings for the recovery of $1.98.40 instituted in the Municipal Court of Vega Baja on February 9, 1914, by Successors of Sobrino & Co. v. Héctor and Julio César Rodríguez and Providencia Rodríguez, predecessor in interest of Gonzalo Lloverás and Gilberto Lloverás y Rodríguez, who are also plaintiffs herein, defendant Tomás Landrón acquired! in the same proceeding, under the marshal’s sale, an urban property for $630. It appears from the report of the sale [336]*336that in the first place a rural property of 70 acres was sold-to ~R.fl.-m0T) Alonso for $525. The judgment in favor of Successors of Sobrino & Co. was, as already stated, for $198.40. Therefore, the judgment was satisfied, leaving a surplus for the defendants who are the plaintiffs herein.' With this there was an end to the authority of the marshal for further sales of other properties of the defendants. However, the marshal went on with the sale and sold in the second place to defendant Landrón for $630 an urban property situated on land belonging to the municipality of Vega Baja.

Sections 250 and 253 of the Code of Civil Procedure provide:

“Sec. 250. The marshal must execute the writ against the property of the judgment debtor, by levying on a sufficient amount of property, if there be sufficient, collecting or selling the things in action, and selling the other property, and paying to the plaintiff or hi's attorney so much of the proceeds as will satisfy the judgment. Any excess in.the proceeds over the judgment and accruing costs must be returned to the judgment debtor, unless otherwise directed by the judgment or order of the court. . .”
“Sec. 253. All sales of property under execution must be made at auction to the highest bidder, between the hours of nine in the morning and five in the afternoon. After sufficient property has ■ been sold to satisfy the execution, no more can be sold. . .”

It seems clear from these sections of the Code that after tbe sale of the rural property of 70 acres to Ramón Alonso for $525, a sum more than sufficient to satisfy the judgment, the marshal was without authority to sell and convey the urban property involved in this action. Although there is a conflict in the authorities with regard to the effects of a subsequent sale after the judgment had been satisfied, the better doctrine seems to be that which declares the second sale null and void, even in the case of an innocent purchaser. In 23 Corpus Juris, 749, the jurisprudence is condensed as follows:

[337]*337"Tbe courts are divided upon tbe question a's to tbe effect upon tbe title of a bona fide purchaser at an execution sale of tbe satisfaction of tbe judgment prior to tbe sale of tbe property thereunder. In some jurisdictions, especially in tbe earlier decision^, the rule is laid down that a bona fide purchaser without notice will acquire a good title, even though tbe execution is paid off or tbe judgment satisfied before sale, where-tbe satisfaction does not appear of record at tbe time of or before tbe sale. However, tbe better doctrine, as adopted by tbe more recent decisions, is that tbe satisfaction of the judgment prior to an execution sale will render 'such sale void, and the purchaser will take no title thereunder, even though be bought in good faith and without notice. In any event, no title passes if tbe purchaser bad actual or constructive notice. Satisfaction of' tbe judgment after tbe sale does not affect the title of a bona fide purchaser.”

In note 59, referring to the better doctrine, citation is made of Lee v. Rogers, 15 Federal Cases, No. 8201, where it is said:

"It is settled without any authority, so far a's I am aware, to tbe contrary, that a sale under a judgment after its full payment is absolutely void. And a number of tbe authorities go so far as to say that such a 'sale is void under all circumstances, and as to all persons, even though purchasers in good faith for a valuable consideration, and without notice. The principle stated in the authorities is, that the judgment is the sole foundation of the 'sheriff’s power to sell and convey; that, if the judgment has been paid at the time of the sale, the sheriff’s power is at an end, and he acts without authority; and that the1 purchaser under a power i's chargeable with notice if the power does not exist, and purchases at his-peril. The following are the principal authorities upon the point: Hammatt v. Wyman, 9 Mass. 138; King v. Goodwin, 16 Mass. 63; Wood v. Colvin, 2 Hill, 568; Carpenter v. Stilwell, 11 N. Y. 69, 70, 76; Swan v. Saddlemire, 8 Wend. 681; Lewis v. Palmer, 6 Wend. 368; Craft v. Merrill, 14 N. Y. 461; Neilson v. Neilson, 5 Barb. 565-569; Cameron v. Irwin, 5 Hill, 275; Delaplaine v. Hitchcock, 6 Hill, 17; Deyo v. Van Valkenburgh, 5 Hill, 246; Sherman v. Boyce, 15 Johns. 443; Jackson v. Anderson, 4 Wend. 480; Mouchat v. Brown, 3 Rich. Law, 117; Hunter v. Stevenson, 1 Hill (S. C.) 415; State v. Salyers, 19 Ind. 432; Skinner v. Lehman, 6 Ohio 430. Tax sales after payment of the taxes have often been held to-[338]*338be void, even as to innocent purchasers, upon the same principle's. Jackson v. Morse, 18 Johns. 441; Curry v. Hunman, 11 Ill. 420; Hunter v. Cochran, 3 Barr (3 Pa. St.) 105; Dougherty v. Dickey, 4 Watts & S. 146; Blight v. Banks, 6 T. B. Mon. 206.”

The reason of the rule is also set forth in the same note as follows:

“The reason of the rule is that the existence of the debt, whose collection is the sole object of the issuance of the fi. fa., is the basis on which the power to sell alone depends; that when the debt is extinguished, the authority under. . . the execution dies with it, and that he who buys under a-power buys at his peril, and takes nothing by his purchase if the alleged power does not exist. McClure v. Logan, 59 Mo. 234, 237 (crit. Reed v. Austin, 9 Mo. 722, 45 Am. D. 336.) The judgment is the p'ower back of, and authorizing, the execution sale. If the judgment has been paid off, the power is gone, and no title passes, even to an innocent purchaser. Shaffer v. McCrackin, 90 Iowa 578, 581, 58 N. W. 910, 48 Am. S. R. 465.”

Already this Supreme Court in Solá v. Castro, 32 P.R.R. 740, expressed itself in general terms as follows with regard to the authority of the marshal:

“We also infer from the foregoing doctrine that an innocent purchaser need not concern himself or inquire about errors of procedure, but it i's his duty to investigate the capacity or authority with or under which the marshal is acting and ascertain his jurisdictional authority to make the sale, and for that purpose the purchaser need do no more than inspect the judgment and the writ of execution. Blood v. Light, supra

Therefore, we come to the conclusion, in the light of the law and the jurisprudence, that the marshal of the Municipal Court of Yega Baja did not pass to the defendant any title to the urban property sold to him at the judicial sale because of his absolute lack of authority.

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Neilson v. Neilson
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Sherman v. Boyce
15 Johns. 443 (New York Supreme Court, 1818)
Jackson ex dem. Clark v. Morse
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Jackson ex dem. Anderson v. Anderson
4 Wend. 474 (New York Supreme Court, 1830)
Swan v. Saddlemire & Wood
8 Wend. 676 (New York Supreme Court, 1832)
Dougherty v. Dickey
4 Watts & Serg. 146 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1842)
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9 Mass. 138 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1812)
King v. Goodwin
16 Mass. 63 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1819)
Reed v. Heirs of Austin
9 Mo. 713 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1846)
Curry v. Hinman
11 Ill. 420 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1849)
State ex rel. Wilber v. Salyers
19 Ind. 432 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1862)
Shaffer v. McCrackin
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McClure v. Logan
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Skinner v. Lehman's Heirs
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Bluebook (online)
37 P.R. 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lloveras-v-landron-prsupreme-1927.