Martínez v. Crosas

27 P.R. 87
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Martínez v. Crosas. Read the opinion of the Court — 27 P.R. Dec. 94
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided February 28, 1919·No. No. 228·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice HutcbtsoN

delivered the opinion of the court.

The petition for certiorari herein states that in the District Court of Aguadilla, in the matter of the judicial administration of the estate of Víctor Martínez y Martinez, deceased, an administrator was named on May 7, 1917; that on appeal by petitioner herein, who had contested the said proceedings, this court, on February 19, 1918, affirmed the decree of the district court; that an appeal was taken from the judgment of' this court and is now pending before the Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston; that petitioner moved in this •court that the appeal perfected from the decree of May 7, 1917, be held to operate as a supersedeas, and that this court SQ ruled in its said judgment of February 19, 1918; that the district court, on May 10, 1918, removed the said administrator, giving him thirty days within which to render';his accounts; that notwithstanding all this 1116 district court icon-[89] tinned to act in the said proceedings and to carry into effect the decree so appealed from, entering, among other orders, the following:

On May 20, 1918, an order directing the payment of $132 hy the administrator to a notary for the inventory executed before him on September 16, 1917, and a copy thereof, of which order the administrator received notice the same day, bnt petitioner received no notice either of the said order or of the application therefor.

On May 10,1918, an order directing the payment of $2,500 by the administrator to certain attorneys for alleged professional services and expenses incurred in the defense of the judge (sic) and of the minors and in connection with the appeal pending in the Circuit Court, without notice to petitioner of the said order or of the application therefor.

On February 5, 1918, at the instance of the administrator, two orders notifying different mortgagors to pay over to the said administrator amounts owing to petitioner, with notice to the said mortgagors but without notice to petitioner in either instance of the said order or of the motion therefor.

That on May 8, 1918, petitioner was notified that a commissioner (contador partidor) had been named by the court, and at the same time was cited for a partition to be made on the twentieth of said month, without previous notice or knowledge by petitioner of the appointment of the said parti-tioner, or of his qualification as such, a motion by petitioner for a reconsideration of this order having been denied on May 20, 1918.

That on motion of the administrator for an order to petitioner and his mayordomo to appear and show cause why they should not be punished for contempt because of alleged acts committed out of court, without specification of the place where they occurred, the court below set the hearing for November 2, 1917, and by its judgment of May 21, 1918, imposed upon petitioner a fine of' $200 and sentenced both peth [90] tioner and Ms mayordomo to thirty days in jail, of which judgment no copy was given petitioner notwithstanding liis-demand made in this regard.

That the'administrator, in a motion dated May 8, 1918r stated and affirmed that- the moneys received in the said administration np to May 5, 1918, amounted to $7,519.78.

The petition assigns as error the following “infringements ’ ’:

A. Of sections 297 and 298 of the Code of Civil Procedure' in connection with the doctrine laid down by this court in its-judgment of February 19, 1918;

B. Of sections 354 to 356 of the Civil Code in connection with section 1186 thereof and with articles 24, 25 and 26 of the Mortgage Law;

C. Of section 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Eule 4 of the district court;

D. Of the Law of Special Proceedings of March 9, 1905r in connection with section 1816 of the Code of Civil Procedure of 1885, and of the precedent established by this court in Sabater v. Escudero, 23 P. R. R. 794, and of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Spain rendered April 21, 1896;

E. Of section 67 of the Law of Special Proceedings as amended by the Act of May 8, 1906;

F. Of sections 1221 and 1224 of the Civil Code in connection with the Law of Special Proceedings, and section 1226 of the Civil Code;

Gr. Of section 355 of the Civil Code in connection with the Law of Special Proceedings of 1905.

The prayer is for annulment of the rulings of October 27, 1917, February 5 and May 20, 1918, and of the order appointing a partitioner, a mandate for the delivery to petitioner of the $7,519.78, and any other moneys that may have been collected as rents and profits from the property of petitioner, and for the like delivery to petitioner of all property belonging to him improperly seized and the exclusion [91] of which, together with, its rents and profits, was prayed in Certiorari No. 227, for the reason that the administrator having been removed, the said properties have been abandoned and consist for the most part in plantations of coffee, cane and minor frnits under cultivation; and for costs, expenses, disbursements and attorney fees.

At the hearing petitioner was represented by a brother attorney who filed an “additional brief,” subscribed by himself and petitioner, presenting in more or less plausible form the. main features of the original brief and raising one or two new questions.

The supplementary brief of petitioner submits:

I.

That an appeal to this court from a decision of a district court decreeing a judicial administration and dismissing the opposition to such administration deprives the district court of the power to act further in the matter until such appeal is disposed of by this court.

II.

That the taking of an appeal from this court to the Circuit Court of Appeals and transmission of the record to that court transfers the jurisdiction to the latter.

in.

That the bond of a judicial administrator, in which one of the sureties is an attorney for such administrator, and in which the sureties do not qualify according to law, is void, as are also the acts performed by the administrator under such security.

IV.

The judgment finding petitioner guilty of contempt is wholly void.

[92] Y.

OTHER GROUNDS OE INVALIDITY.

1. The district court appears as ruling’ on substantial matters without a hearing*, and thus without opportunity to the parties properly to present and submit the questions involved. This occurred: (a) with reference to the first bond furnished by the administrator; (b) with reference to the suspension of the proceedings; (c) with reference to the order directing the debtor Méndez to pay certain sums to the administrator; (d) with reference to the ruling on the suspensive bond and in regard to a reconsideration thereof; and (e) in other instances as to which, in the interest of brevity, only citation of the record is given by petitioner.

2. Attention is invited also to the payments authorized by. the district court as chargeable to the administrative funds, especially as to attorney fees and the motion therefor.

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Martínez v. Crosas, 27 P.R. 87 (prsupreme 1919).

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