Miranda v. Editorial El Imparcial, Inc.

99 P.R. 583
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 8, 1971
DocketNo. R-69-281
StatusPublished

This text of 99 P.R. 583 (Miranda v. Editorial El Imparcial, Inc.) 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
Miranda v. Editorial El Imparcial, Inc., 99 P.R. 583 (prsupreme 1971).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Santana Becerra

delivered the opinion of the Court.

[585]*585We are dealing with an action for the recovery of money and damages for breach of contract. The Editorial El Impar-cial, Inc., retained the professional services of journalist, Luis Antonio Miranda, through contract of July 26, 1967, signed on behalf of the Editorial El Imparcial, by Antonio Ayuso Valdivieso, as President and Director.

On June 24, 1968, a letter signed “Iris Mieres Ayuso, Secretary,” was addressed to Miranda, informing him that she had decided to terminate his services to said enterprise, beginning on that same date.

The foregoing events gave rise to the present action filed by Miranda, plaintiff-appellant, against the Editorial El Imparcial, Inc., Iris Mieres Ayuso, by herself and assisted by her husband, Antonio Ayuso Valdivieso and their conjugal partnership, and Clement Littauer, as defendants-appellees herein.

The existence of the contract of professional services between the Editorial El Imparcial and Luis Antonio Miranda, by virtue of the contract of July 26, 1967, was accepted by each and every one of the defendants, who answered the complaint separately.

The trial having been heard .on its merits, the trial court rendered its judgment on September 29, 1969, dismissing the complaint. Upon dismissing the complaint, the trial court made the following:

“Findings of Fact
“1. — Editorial El Imparcial, Inc., is a corporation duly authorized to do business in Puerto Rico. It publishes daily, in San Juan, the newspaper known as ‘El Imparcial.’
“2. — Plaintiff, Luis Antonio Miranda, is a well-known writer, whose literary merits have been widely acknowledged in the intellectual circles of Puerto Rico, and whose prestige goes beyond the geographical limits of our island. He is an experienced journalist. During all his long life he has been connected, in one way or other, with journalism.
[586]*586“3. — In 1967, the corporation Editorial El Imparcial, Inc., had great financial difficulties. The circulation of the newspaper it published had dropped considerably. In an effort to avoid the expected financial failure, representatives of the corporation approached Luis Antonio Miranda and offered him the direction of the newspaper ‘El Imparcial.’
“4. — There were a series of meetings and consultations in regard to the position Luis Antonio Miranda was going to occupy in the newspaper ‘El Imparcial.’ Finally, on July 26, 1967, a contract of services was executed, wherein there appeared Antonio Ayuso Valdivieso, for the defendant corporation, and plaintiff himself.
“5. — According to the contract which we have mentioned above, plaintiff was appointed Assistant Director of the newspaper and a so-called Editorial Board was created which, according to the contract, would be composed by its Director, its Executive Vice-President, the Secretary of the corporation, and Luis Antonio Miranda himself, in his capacity as Assistant Director of the newspaper. It was incumbent upon that Editorial Board to determine the newspaper’s policy and editorial standards. [1]
“6. — At this time, Attorney Antonio Ayuso Valdivieso was Director of the newspaper and owner of all .the shares of the corporation. During the course of the trial it comes forth that he was sick and it is implied that he was mentally sick. However, none of the parties made any real effort to show that Ayuso Valdivieso was already disabled by that time. But, an order of November 1, 1968, of the Superior Court, Caguas Part, [587]*587stating that Ayuso was mentally disabled, was presented in evidence. [2]
“7. — During the time Luis Antonio Miranda acted as Director of the newspaper ‘El Imparcial,’ in Ayuso’s absence, there was an increase in the circulation of the newspaper and in the sale of space for advertisements. However, the corporation’s financial situation remained desperate. As a matter of fact, Miranda did not intervene in the administrative aspect and he did not know whether there were losses or profits in the newspaper’s publication, and he did not even know what his department’s budget was.
“8. — The Editorial Board of a newspaper is the one really in charge of the direction of the same. The director is the executive officer of the Editorial Board. When Luis Antonio Miranda took office as director of the newspaper, this Board never met. The same was called for the first time when code-fendant Clement Littauer started to work for the defendant.
“9. — Since the financial situation of the newspaper ‘El Imparcial’ was still chaotic, on June 1, 1968, Antonio Ayuso Valdivieso appointed Clement Littauer as Executive Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer of the enterprise.
“10. — Since before the appointment of Littauer, there were frictions between Luis Antonio Miranda and Iris Mieres Ayuso. The difficulties arose from the fact that, occasionally, Iris Mieres Ayuso made assignments to the newspaper editors, and Miranda understood that that was an improper meddling of the former with his functions and prerogatives as Assistant Director and Acting Director of the newspaper.
“11. — After Littauer’s appointment, the difficulties increased. Littauer informed Luis Antonio Miranda that according to an investigation performed by him, the newspaper had a pro-independence and communist image and that that prejudiced the sale of the advertisements of the newspaper. They also had differences as to the selection of the front page news.
“12. — On June 12, 1968, a meeting of the Editorial Board was called. Luis Antonio Miranda was not present at that meeting. Apparently, because he thought that it was not going to be held. If he had been present, he would have circumscribed himself to challenge the legality of said Editorial Board. He [588]*588understood that said Board could not be legally constituted, and that in any event, it did not have any authority whatsoever over his work as Assistant Director and Acting Director of the newspaper.
“18. — Luis Antonio Miranda wrote two long letters to Iris Mieres Ayuso. One was dated June 10, and the other, June 19, both of 1968. [3] The court concludes, as a matter of fact, that the same are offensive and disrespectful, considering their positions in the enterprise.
“14. — As a result of the above-mentioned letters, on June 25, 1968, Attorney Antonio Ayuso Valdivieso discharged Luis Antonio Miranda from his employment and salary.”

[597]*597On the basis of those findings of fact, the trial court made the following:

“Conclusions of Law
“I. — Section 25 of the Law of Evidence is applicable to the facts of this case.
“II. — It is assumed that the written contract executed between the parties on July 26, 1967, comprises the parties’ real intention and the conversations held between the parties prior to its execution cannot be taken into consideration.
“III.

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99 P.R. 583, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miranda-v-editorial-el-imparcial-inc-prsupreme-1971.