Pagán v. Santiago

69 P.R. 136
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 14, 1948
DocketNo. 9733
StatusPublished

This text of 69 P.R. 136 (Pagán v. Santiago) 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
Pagán v. Santiago, 69 P.R. 136 (prsupreme 1948).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Marrero

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Eugenia Susana Pagán brought, in the District Court of Mayagüez, an action of revendication, together with a [137]*137claim for civil fruits, against Cornelio D. Santiago. As a first cause of action, she alleged that she is the lawful owner of an 8-acre (cuerdas) rural property, which she acquired while she was unmarried, and that the defendant, without any right or title, in bad faith, unlawfully, and against her will holds actual possession of said property and refuses to deliver it to her; and as a second cause of action, she claimed fruits in the amount of $15,000.

The defendant answered, denied the essential averments of the complaint, and set up as special defenses that if the action is considered as one for rescission or for nullity, said action has prescribed; and that she has acquired the property by prescription. Said questions of law were dismissed by the lower court, and after the case went to trial and at the close of the evidence for the plaintiff, the defendant presented a motion for nonsuit which was sustained.

The plaintiff has appealed from the judgment rendered, and in support of her appeal she contends that the lower court erred in holding (1) that she had not proven her title to the property described in the complaint; (2) that she must first obtain the annulment of defendant’s title in order to be able to bring the action of revendication; (3) in sustaining the motion for nonsuit; and (4) in dismissing the motion for reconsideration filed.

In the judgment rendered, the lower court said:

“In actions of revendication, when the defendant in possession holds a title which has the same source as the one relied on by plaintiff or is derived from plaintiff, it is necessary for the latter to institute the proper action to invalidate the title of the possessor, and until such annulment is obtained in an independent action, said plaintiff lacks any title to revendi-cate.”

In support of the foregoing assertion it cited 3 Manresa, Comentarios' al Código Civil Español, 1934 ed., p. 143; 6 Scaevola, Código Civil, p. 235; the judgments of the Supreme ■Court of Spain of April 19, 1905, and March 2, 1912, and [138]*138the decision of this Court in Estate of Blondet et al. v. Fantauzzi Hermanos, 14 P.R.R. 302. The parties devote large portions of their briefs to discuss this point.

Nowadays, under Rule 18(6), the joinder of claims such as those set up by the plaintiff in his complaint is clearly permissible. Said rule provides as. follows:

“(b) Joinder of Remedies; Fraudulent Conveyances.— Whenever a claim is one heretofore cognizable only after another claim has been prosecuted to a conclusion, the two ■claims may be joined in a single action; but the court shall .grant relief in that action only in accordance with the relative substantive rights of the parties. In particular, a plaintiff may state a claim for money and a claim to have set aside a conveyance fraudulent as to him, without first having obtained a judgment establishing the claim for money.”

The language of the above-cited subdivision seems to us •entirely clear. In connection with the above rule, Moore in vol. 2 of his work on Federal Practice, 1947 Cumulative ■Supplement, at p. 27, says that:

“The language of this subdivision is broad and authorizes the joinder of a principal and a contingent claim in all cases.” (Italics ours.)

In Armour & Co. of Delaware v. B. F. Bailey, Inc., 132 F. 2d 386, it was held that the joinder in a single action ■of claims previously cognizable only after another claim had been prosecuted to a conclusion contemplated a joinder of an action to set aside a fraudulent conveyance with an action to establish a claim.

The action brought herein is one of revendication and for recovery of fruits. There is no doubt that under the above rule both. claims may be joined and that the lower court erred in holding otherwise.

A motion for nonsuit, such as the one filed in this case, admits for the purposes of the motion the truth of the •evidence introduced by the plaintiff. It might be said that [139]*139such a motion is a demurrer to the evidence introduced by the plaintiff in support of the averments of his complaint. Villanueva v. Suárez et al., 41 P.R.R. 39; People v. Rivas et at., 68 P.R.R. 439. On the other hand, when said motion is presented not only is the truth of the evidence introduced by the plaintiff admitted, but the making out of a prima facie case by the plaintiff will be sufficient for a dismissal of the motion. Méndez v. Banco Comercial, 26 P.R.R. 586, and Príncipe v. American R. R. Co. of P. R., 22 P.R.R. 282. Therefore, we deem it necessary to analyze the evidence introduced in the lower court in order to determine whether or not said court was justified in sustaining the motion for nonsuit.

The pertinent part of the documentary evidence was as follows:

On December 2, 1922, there was executed before Notary Ángel A. Vázquez a deed, wherein it was stated that the plaintiff Eugenia Susana Pagán was the owner of the property in controversy herein and that she had acquired it while .she was unmarried, in part by inheritance from her parents and in part by purchase from her brother Cirilo Pagán. On that same day another deed was executed before the same notary, whereby the plaintiff transferred by sale to the defendant Cornelio D. Santiago the above-mentioned property for the sum of $250, which she stated she had received from the purchaser prior to the execution of the deed, but it was agreed “that if at the termination of one year, counted from today, the seller returns to the purchaser the two hundred and fifty dollars or selling price, and in addition pays the expenses for the preparation of the documents, Mr. Santiago •shall execute the corresponding deed of reconveyance, otherwise the property sold will be considered as irrevocably alienated.” In the latter deed it was also set forth that the purchaser was already in possession of the property sold and that the price was not inadequate.

[140]*140The oral evidence was as follows:

Eugenia Susana Pagan,

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Related

Armour & Co. of Delaware v. BF Bailey, Inc.
132 F.2d 386 (Fifth Circuit, 1942)

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69 P.R. 136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pagan-v-santiago-prsupreme-1948.