Molina v. Molina

54 P.R. 214
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 8, 1939
DocketNo. 7752
StatusPublished

This text of 54 P.R. 214 (Molina v. Molina) 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
Molina v. Molina, 54 P.R. 214 (prsupreme 1939).

Opinion

Mu. Justice Travieso

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case of unlawful detainer at sufferance the complainant alleges that he is the owner of a farm which he bought from Domingo Mena by public deed of August 18, 1934; that Mena in his turn acquired it by purchase at a public sale had by virtue of a judicial proceeding to collect a promissory note executed by the former owner of the farm, the defendant Celedonio Molina; and that the latter retains the farm without paying any rent whatsoever.

After a general denial of the facts set forth in the complaint the defendant alleges that he and Domingo Mena agreed that Mena should buy the farm at the public sale, promising to return it to the defendant Celedonio Molina as soon as the latter should pay Mena the amount paid by him at the auction sale, plus legal interest; that when the time to redeem was up, the complainant Manuel Maria Molina, brother of defendant, lent the latter the necessary money [215]*215to redeem the farm; that it was agreed between them that the title would pass to the complainant Manuel Maria Molina and that the defendant would continue in possession of the farm, working it, and would allow the crops of the same —sugar cane and vegetables — to he delivered to Central Cambalache in the name of the complainant, who would apply the price of said products to the payment of the sum lent by him to the defendant; that according to the agreement, the complainant has collected already all that was owed to him by the defendant; that the defendant has never left the farm and that it belongs exclusively to him; that the defendant is the head of a family, being married and having two minor children, with whom he has always lived and actually lives in the farm in question and where they have established their homestead.

The case was heard before the District Court of Arecibo and judgment was rendered dismissing the complaint because the court understood that an unlawful detainer proceeding is not the adequate proceeding to decide such controversy between the parties. In its opinion and judgment the lower court stated as follows:

“The evidence introduced at the trial as a whole presents a complicated situation which if we were to decide in this proceeding we would go beyond the summary bounds of the same.
“The defendant Celedonio Molina was sued in the municipal court and, as a consequence of an attachment in foreclosure, the farm object of this unlawful detainer suit was put up at public auction. Then Molina spoke to Domingo Mena so that he should purchase it for a small sum for the purpose, according to his testimony, that Mena should collect from the crops the amount of the purchase and so that Molina should not lose the farm. Mena says it is true that he talked to him about the sale, but that he merely consented to allow him to remain in the farm. The truth is that there must have been some agreement between them when Molina continued living and working the farm.
“The history of Celedonio Molina, in the second chapter, is that it was later agreed upon that Mena should give the title to his brother Manuel, who is the complainant in this case, and that the price should [216]*216be paid in instalments, but with the idea that his brother should be liable and should pay with the crops of the farm and that after paying Mena, he should return it to the defendant Celedonio. Mena, as well as Manuel Molina, deny this, but the truth is that Manuel did not pay out one cent as the price of the property and that the payments that he made were money obtained from the products of the farm. Also, the defendant continued in the farm and since a year ago not only is he in possession thereof, but he has entered into a contract and delivered cane, produced and cut by him, to Central Cambalache.
“It is true that the title of Mena and Manuel Molina does not show anything else than an absolute sale, but the facts and even certain answers of the witnesses of the complainant, force us to the conclusion that the defendant is not on the property as a mere possessor at sufferance.
“It may be that in a declaratory action the defendant will have to leave the farm, even accepting as time that he does not have a homestead, but some right may be given to the defendant by virtue of the relation between the parties. The more we look at the evidence the more we are convinced that some equitable arrangement can be made by both brothers which could not be decided in this summary proceeding, since if we render judgment in favor of the complainant, we would have to accept that the defendant is on the property without any right whatsoever.”

To uphold his appeal the complainant appellant alleges as errors committed by the lower court (a) having’ decided that an unlawful detainer suit at sufferance does not lie and (&) having erroneously weighed the evidence, deducing from it conclusions contrary to law. Both assignments of error can be. considered together.

We have no doubt whatsoever that the complainant satisfactorily proved that he has a good and sufficient title which gives him the right to the possession of the immovable and to eject therefrom the person who unlawfully retains the possession. The title of the complainant is the same which the defendant used to have before his farm was sold at public auction to satisfy a judgment rendered against him. The documentary evidence establishes a prima facie case in favor of the complainant.

[217]*217Let us examine the testimony of the witnesses. The complainant testified that he bought the farm in 1935; that the defendant is his brother and lives on the farm without paying anything and without having any contract of lease; that he has not ejected the defendant because it is his brother, but that before filing the unlawful detainer suit he gave him notice to leave. In the cross-examination he said: that the defendant has a right to the house that is on the farm; that when he bought from Mena he went to work the farm in 1935 and worked it until 1936 and that he stopped working it because the defendant took out a dagger and told him that if he came on the property again he would cut him, and it was then that he left; that he paid $200 for the farm to Mena in his house from 1935 on; that he guaranteed the payments with three cuerdas of land which he owns; that he did not give Mena any money on the day of the sale, but that he did give it to him when it fell due, which was a year later, because then he had to go and work the property as he was in need; that he cultivated the property himself and with peons and oxen; that he got the money to pay Mena the price of the farm from his work in the farm and from his own money which he had to invest therein, from his work; that his brother, the defendant, never worked on the farm; that he worked in the hacienda;

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Bluebook (online)
54 P.R. 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/molina-v-molina-prsupreme-1939.