Rodríguez Pérez v. Municipality of San Juan

53 P.R. 47
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedApril 8, 1938
DocketNo. 7394
StatusPublished

This text of 53 P.R. 47 (Rodríguez Pérez v. Municipality of San Juan) 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
Rodríguez Pérez v. Municipality of San Juan, 53 P.R. 47 (prsupreme 1938).

Opinion

Mr, Justice Travieso

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action of revendication instituted by José Rodrí-guez Pérez against the Government of the Capital of Puerto Eico. The litigants, with the approval of the lower court, made a stiptfation concerning many of the facts alleged in the complaint and controverted in the answer. The following facts may therefore he taken as alleged and admitted.

The plaintiff is and since June 5, 1919, has been the owner of an urban piece of property situated in the northern section of the Ward of Santurce in the Municipality of San Juan. It' is made up of a frame house, zinc-roofed, fronting Ponce de León Avenue and standing upon a lot which measures 26 yd. on the southern side, 34 yd. on the north and 32 yd. and 1 ft. on each of the eastern and western sides. It is bounded on the north by a lot owned by José Rodríguez Pérez, on the south by Ponce de León Avenue, on which it faces; on the east by a lot owned by Ignacio Colón; and on the west by Simón Bolívar Street. Said property is recorded in the name of the plaintiff in the corresponding registry of property.

[49]*49On February 27, 1923, the defendant occupied, for public use, part of tlie aforementioned property, to the extent and within the boundaries hereinafter recited, and since that time has remained in possession thereof -without just title and with knowledge that it belongs to the plaintiff. The parcel in question has an area of 91.37 square meters and is bounded on the north by the principal property; on the south by Ponce de León Avenue; on the east by a lot belonging to Ignacio Colón; and on the west by Simón Bolívar Street.

As to the value of the strip of land unlawfully detained, which the plaintiff fixes at $4,068.50, and as to the damages caused by the detention, which the plaintiff estimates at $49,502.18, the parties were unable to reach any agreement and therefore those are really the questions of fact as to, which there exists a difference of opinion between the li’L igant's.

With regard to the second of the two causes of action set out in the complaint, the defendant admits that the plaintiff is the owner of a strip of land occupied by the defendant for public use, which has an area of 76.18 square meters bounded on the north by Bernardo Fernandez, on the south by Ponce de León Avenue, on the west by Sifnón Bolivar Street and on the east by the lot of which it forms a part, already described as belonging to the plaintiff. The stipulation limits the issues of fact to the question of whether the defendant occupied said parcel about fourteen years ago so as to make it form a part of Simón Bolívar Street, as the plaintiff alleges, or whether on the contrary, this strip has been dedicated to the public use for more than thirty years; and to the question of whether the detained parcel is worth $3,227.20 or $475.08, which are the amounts that the plaintiff and the' defendant respectively allege as such value. There remained an issue as to whether or not there was bad faith in the occupation and as to the amount of the damages, if any, caused thereby.

[50]*50After tlae ease was heard the lower court sustained the' complaint and adjudged the defendant to pay to the plaintiff the sum of $8,356.98 on account of the charges which will he hereinafter stated, each party to pay its own costs. Peeling* aggrieved by that judgment both parties appealed to this court. The defendant has assigned in his brief two errors; the plaintiff has assigned ten, as follows:

“1. In failing to decide that the lack of just title is evidence per se of the bad faith of the defendant.
“2. In deciding that the theory that a lack of title implies a lack of good faith, if it is in fact a theory applicable to a public corporation and to the defendant municipality as such, ‘it is about time that it should be changed.’
“3. In deciding that the fact that the municipality occupied a strip of land for a street, when by the type of the building no damage was caused to the property, such occupation is not evidence per se <of bad faith.
“4. In deciding that the occupation of a parcel belonging to the plaintiff and appellant-appellee even without just title does not amount to bad faith in said possession nor is equivalent to the occupation or deprivation of the property without due process of law.
“5. In holding that the defendant municipality has, in certain cases, the right to occupy strips or portions of land, because since it is a perpetual entity the person injured has always the power or opportunity to be indemnified for any damages he may suffer.
“6. In not decreeing that the municipality should compensate the plaintiff in the sum of $25,000 because he was unable to construct a building which he had planned, as well as because he was unable to develop and extend his business.
“7. In not adjudging the defendant to pay to the plaintiff-appellant the sum of $16,867, representing the cost of adjusting the construction or reconstruction of the building on the lot which is described in the complaint as a result of the change in the level of the street effected by the defendant on the strip of land which faces Ponce de León Avenue.
“8. In not adjudging the defendant municipality to pay the plaintiff for the use and enjoyment of the strip which faces Simón Bolívar Avenue and for the rents and profits which the plaintiff failed to receive by reason of the withholding of that strip, estimated in the sum of $5,000.00.
[51]*51“9. In not adjudging tbe defendant municipality to pay tbe costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees.
“10. In tbe weighing of the evidence and tbe application of the law when it failed to appraise tbe strips of land on Ponce de León and Simón Bolívar Avenues in the sums of $4,068.50 and $3,227.20, respectively, making a total of $7,295.70.”

We believe that' a detailed discussion of tbe first five assignments is unnecessary. When a judgment is correct and tbe reasons or grounds supporting- it are erroneous, no prejudice or barm is caused to tbe appellant which be can invoke as the basis for an appeal. Tbe latter is taklen from tbe judgment, in order to correct any errors contained therein, and not from the opinion on which it is based, even though the opinion may be erroneous.

‘ ‘ The third assignment relates to one of tbe grounds on which the lower court based its judgment. But if the decision is correct, the fact that its reasoning is erroneous is not sufficient ground for reversal.” Ryan v. Heirs of Ryan, 51 P.R.R,. 42, 51, and cases cited therein.

Although tbe questions raised by tbe appellant in his first four assignments. of error with regard to tbe good or bad faith with which the defendant is retaining the parcels of land the object of this litigation may be important in connection with an adjudication of the profits (frutos), nevertheless they serve no practical purpose in this appeal, because in the judgment, in spite of the statements of the trial judge in his opinion, the appellant has obtained everything which he would have been entitled to receive from a possessor in bad faith, as it will be shown.

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53 P.R. 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-perez-v-municipality-of-san-juan-prsupreme-1938.