Municipality of Hatillo v. Ríos Ferrer

61 P.R. 98
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedNovember 30, 1942
DocketNo. 8577
StatusPublished

This text of 61 P.R. 98 (Municipality of Hatillo v. Ríos Ferrer) 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
Municipality of Hatillo v. Ríos Ferrer, 61 P.R. 98 (prsupreme 1942).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Del Toro

delivered the opinion of the court.

On the 16th of last March the Municipality of Hatillo, requested the District Court of Arecibo to issue a writ of injunction against Francisco Rios Ferrer enjoining him from continuing to enter a certain lot belonging to the petitioner and from continuing to build on it or to perform any act of <listurb.ance or violation of his property right.

The writ was issued. The defendant answered opposing the writ. The plaintiff amended his petition, specifically requesting that the defendant be ordered to stop construction of a certain pavilion on the lot, and it was prayed that the partially constructed pavilion be removed and that any other equitable remedy be issued for the removal of the nuisance in question. Defendant opposed the amended complaint and, after a hearing, the judge admitted it, and the defendant then filed his answer to the same.

After a hearing at which both parties submitted evidence, the court on April 22, 1942, issued the preliminary injunction, against which this appeal was taken, whereby defendant was ordered to abstain from continuing to build on plaintiff’s lot the concrete structure which was described in the complaint.

In his brief, appellant assigns to the lower court the the commission of eight errors in not resolving that plaintiff’s cause of action had prescribed according to §83 of the Municipal Law in force, in admitting the amended complaint, in issuing the injunction, in resolving that twenty years ago an auction was a necessary condition precedent to give defendant permission to build the structure which he [100]*100built, in resolving that the acts and admissions -of the plaintiff “in the suit of the Church, 59 P.R.R. 190” were res ju-dicata, in considering the property right of the plaintiff in the building as a mere nullity, in issuing the injunction without the clear title required by law, and in weighing the evidence.

Let us decide first whether or not the district court erred in permitting the filing of the amended complaint.

Appellant’s contention is that the original complaint tried to establish a case of injunction to retain or' recover possession and that the second complaint varied the cause of action.

After having examined the pleadings, we are of the opinion that the lower court did not err in admitting the amended complaint, for the reason that it did not vary the cause of action. The aiin of both complaints is to prevent the defendant from continuing to build and to obtain the destruction of what has already been built, the lot remaining at the free disposal of its legitimate owner, the municipality.

Let us now determine whether or not there exists res judicata. Appellant contends that it does, for the reason that the final decision of this court in the case of the Roman Catholic Church, etc. v. Municipality, 59 P.R.R. 190, resolved in his favor the issue now raised, that is, his right to build and maintain the pavilion on the lot which belongs to the municipality.

Appellant’s contention is without merit. The case he cites was an action involving cross claims on real property and other matters, instituted by the Church against the municipality- and against Rios, in which case -it was decided that the Church was not the owner of the land upon which Rios was erecting a certain building and, therefore, had no right to the injunction which it was requesting against Rios to stop him from continuing to build.

[101]*101It is true that it may he assumed that the laud and the structure which are the objects of both suits are the same, and that in reality what the Church tried to do was to remove the structure, which is the same thing now intended by the municipality, but the fundamental question which was decided is not the same nor do the litigants enjoy the same status as formerly. We can not find here the perfect identity between things, the cause, the litigants and their status which the law and the weight of authority demand. Section 1204, par. 3 of the Civil Code (1930 ed.), Catholic Church v. Municipality of Bayamón, 27 P.R.R. 789. The case cited establishes res judicata only with respect to the fact that the lot on which the structure is being erected belongs to the municipality and not to the Church, but not with respect to Rios’ right to continue to build the structure thereon and to mantain it against the will of the owner of the lot.

Neither did the court err in holding that the cause of action had not prescribed. In arguing this assignment of error, appellant contends that the cause of action had prescribed pursuant to §83 of the Municipal Law in force —Laws of 1928, p. 398 — for the reason that the annulment, of the ordinance was not requested within the term of thirty days, from its approval. However, as we shall readily see, it was unnecessary to request the annulment of the ordinance pursuant to the provision mentioned, because the municipality took it for granted that said ordinance never had legal existence, considering it as something which never existed.

Having thus disposed of the foregoing question, we shall enter fully into a study of the controversy on its merits.

It may not be challenged that the Municipality of Hatillo is the owner of a lot 11 ft. wide and 25 ft. deep which abuts on the north with the northern Street of the Square, on the south with the Catholic Church, on the east with a lot belonging to the municipality and on the west with a street [102]*102also belonging to the municipality, and that on or about March 14, 1942, Ríos, against the will of. the municipality as expressed by its present mayor,, was continuing the construction of a concrete pavilion on the lot.

The real issue is whether Rios was acting legally or illegally, that is, with valid permission from the owner or against his will and in violation of his right.

Rios contends that more than twenty years ago the municipality gave to his ancestors the usufructuary right to the lot and from that time on they and he have been in the material possession thereof and using it in good faith, maintaining upon it several wooden, zinc, and concrete structures (pavilions) dedicated to the sale of ice cream, candy, and refreshments; that they have paid taxes to the municipality and to the Insular Government; that about 1938, wanting to improve the appearance of the structures, he had some blueprints drawn with the approval of the Department of Health to erect a concrete pavilion; that he was explicitly authorized to do so by the municipality through ordinance No. 21 of 1938; that after the repairs were i n progress, the Catholic Church filed a suit against the municipality and against him in which there issued an injunction paralyzing the repairs, but which was finally decided against the Church by the Supreme Court, the municipality having admitted in that suit his right to the structure; and that on May 14, 1942, the mayor notified him of a complaint made by the Insular Department of Health regarding the cleanliness of the lot and that he immediately cleaned -it and continued the repairs.

Such is the position of the defendant.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gale v. City of Moscow
97 P. 828 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1908)
Whitney v. City of New Haven
20 A. 666 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1890)
Richardson v. City of Omaha
104 N.W. 172 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1905)
Reuter v. Meacham Contracting Co.
136 S.W. 1028 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1911)
Meacham Contracting Co. v. Kleiderer
142 S.W. 720 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1912)
Oconto Electric Co. v. Peoples Land & Manuf'g Co.
161 N.W. 789 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1917)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 P.R. 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/municipality-of-hatillo-v-rios-ferrer-prsupreme-1942.