Pellicier v. Fernández

19 P.R. 111
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 14, 1913
DocketNo. 843
StatusPublished

This text of 19 P.R. 111 (Pellicier v. Fernández) 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
Pellicier v. Fernández, 19 P.R. 111 (prsupreme 1913).

Opinion

Mr. Justice MacLeary

delivered the opinion of the court.

The object of this suit is to nullify a deed of conveyance and a mortgage and to cancel The registration of the same, [112]*112and to recover one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800) which had been paid by the plaintiff .to defendant as a part of the purchase money for the property mentioned in the conveyance and interest thereon, and for costs, disbursements and attorneys fees. The complaint was filed on the 21st of April, 1911. A general demurrer was duly presented and overruled and afterwards on the 1st of May an answer was filed containing admissions, denials and new matter, and issue joined.

The trial of the case followed on the 23rd of October and it was, when the evidence had been concluded, submitted on briefs of both parties.

On the 15th of November, 1911, the district court rendered a judgment reciting the preliminary matters and concluding in the following terms:

“Whereupon the court, having due regard to the pleadings, evidence, and briefs, dismisses the complaint and refuses to order the annulment of the deeds of sale and mortgage, numbered 27 and 28, executed the 17th day of January, 1911, before the Notary Don Julio César González, or to comply with the other requests embodied in said complaint, each party to pay its own costs.”

In due time the plaintiff took an appeal from this judgment and filed the transcript in this Supreme Court. After numerous delays from various causes, the case was heard here on the 5th óf December last and taken under advisement, with leave to the parties to file supplementary briefs; with which the appellant complied.

The issues may be deduced from the propositions stated in the respective briefs. The appellant, through her counsel, specifies five errors, which she alleges to have been committed in the rendition of the judgment by the court below. They are substantially as follows:

1.. The court below was in error in not deciding upon the question of fact; that is to say, whether or not there had been deceit in the transaction involving the purchase-sale of the [113]*113house in dispute; in other words, failure to decide whether the statement of the plaintiff in regard to the facts referred to by her, constitutive of the alleged deceit, was true or not.

2. The court below was in error in its juridical estimation of, and in the legal value it attached to, the statement of Attorney de la Torre, witness for the defendant.

3. The court below was in error in deciding that the plaintiff was not justified at law in confiding in the absolute statements made by the seller relative to the extension of the front of the house offered for sale and also relative to the total extension of the said house.

4. The court below erred in deciding that once the deed had been read to the plaintiff in her hearing and had been accepted by her, and signed for her by another person at her request on account of her inability to write, the said plaintiff was barred from rescinding the.contract and recovering the price paid, even though the description of the property as set out in the deed should be different from that which had been shown to her by the seller, for the reason that she had failed to avail herself of the means she had at her command to discover the truth.

5. The court erred in deciding as a matter of law that the plaintiff was bound by the deed of bargain and sale, once that, it had been signed by her, or her signature affixed by some one-authorized by her, even though deceit had been practiced in connection with the description of the property sold and even if she had been sold a different property from that which had been previously pointed out to her by the seller and which she believed to be that described in the deed of conveyance.

The respondent on'tile, other hand states the questions at issue’ substantially as follows:

1. Has there been any deceit or error? ,

2. Has the plaintiff, subsequently to the execution of the deed of conveyance,, performed any act that would show her conformity therewith, tacitly or impliedly renouncing or fore-' [114]*114going her right of action, with knowledge of the causes that would tend to annul the same?

3. Are the facts, as set forth in the complaint, sufficient to constitute a cause of action?

The first two points presented by each party involve matters of fact; and are virtually different ways of reviewing the same questions. The first of these involves the issue of deceit. The appellant complains that the trial court did not make a special finding in regard to the matter of deceit. The respondent merely states the question as to whether or not there was any deceit shown on the trial. The court in effect found that there was no deceit in the transaction, and incidentally and necessarily that the statement of the plaintiff to the contrary was not credible, in view of the contradictory testimony. If the plaintiff wished a more specific finding (On this point she should have requested it on the trial. Reviewing the conflicting testimony on this point we cannot say -that the-trial court erred in holding that no deceit was shown .by the evidence taken all together.

The second question of fact refers to the offer made by •the plaintiff to sell the property in controversy to the witness de la Torre. There is no doubt that the offer was made and the juridical estimate placed on the testimony of the witness de la Torre does- not clearly appear from the record. But we think the trial court was justified in regarding it as a circumstance, to be considered with the other testimony, in arriving at a conclusion as to truth or falsity of the essential allegations made in the complaint. This is what was done by the court, in the matter referred to, and nothing more.

The remaining points presented involve questions of law, and the third, fourth and fifth of those made by the appellant are summarized in the third suggested by the respondent. We cannot say that the manner in which the appellant states these questions is exactly justified by the record. The trial court did not necessarily decide that the plaintiff was not [115]*115justified iii believing the representations alleged to have been made by-the defendant; but rather held that such representations were never made; the testimony of the parties being directly contradictory on that point, and the court giving credence to the evidence offered by the defendant.

The fourth and fifth propositions of the appellant may be considered together and in effect attack the doctrine announced in Hawkins v. Hawkins, 50 Cal., 558. That decision is to the following effect:

“If a person enters into a contract with another, between whom and himself no relation of special trust or confidence exists, and it is reduced, to writing by such other person, and the means of a knowledge of the terms of the writing are equally open to both, and he signs it without reading, or having it read by some one for him, he cannot avoid a liability created by the writing, even if its terms differ from the contract as agreed on verbally. The fact that he is illiterate does not change the rule.”

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Related

Hawkins v. Hawkins
50 Cal. 558 (California Supreme Court, 1875)

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Bluebook (online)
19 P.R. 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pellicier-v-fernandez-prsupreme-1913.