Rodriguez v. Anaud

54 F.2d 585, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3982
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 17, 1931
DocketNo. 2495
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 54 F.2d 585 (Rodriguez v. Anaud) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. Anaud, 54 F.2d 585, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3982 (1st Cir. 1931).

Opinion

BINGHAM, Circuit Judge.

This is a plenary suit or complaint, under the provisions of the Mortgage Law of Porto Rico, brought by Fermina Isabel Anaud against Jose Martínez Gonzalez (in which Eladio Yenderrozo and Ignacio Cabo Rodriguez were later, by supplemental complaints, made defendants), to have a certain summary foreclosure proceeding, instituted by Martinez, mortgagee, against the complainant, mortgagor, set aside and declared void, and to have the marshal’s sale and deed of the property to Martinez, his deed thereof to Yenderrozo, and the deed of the latter to Rodriguez declared null and their record in the Registry of Property canceled.

In the District Court of San Juan, the summary foreclosure proceeding was declared null and void, and it was specifically adjudged (1) that the writ requiring the defendant in the foreclosure proceeding to pay and the order for the sale of the mortgaged property were without force and effect; (2) that the writ issued to the marshal to carry out the order of sale and everything done thereunder by the marshal, including the public sale and the deed of conveyance to Jose Martinez Gonzalez, were also without force or effect; and (3) that the transfer of the property by Martinez Gonzalez to Yenderrozo was simulated, and likewise without force and effect. It ordered the cancellation of the record in the Registry of the marshal’s deed to Martinez Gonzalez, and of any record that might have been made of the conveyance by Martinez to Yenderrozo. As to Ignacio Cabo Rodriguez, it was adjudged that he was a purchaser in good faith, and an innocent third party as to the matters alleged in the amended and supplemental complaints. Both parties appealed to the Supreme Court of Porto Rico.

In that court, the judgment of the District Court, in so far as it adjudged Cabo Rodriguez to be a purchaser in good faith and an innocent third person, was reversed, and, in its stead, it was adjudged that he was not a third party to the causes of nullity alleged in the amended and supplemental complaints; that the sale of the property made by Yenderrozo to Cabo Rodriguez was null and void, and any entry thereof in the Registry of Property was ordered canceled; that Cabo Rodriguez reinstate the plaintiff in possession of the property, with all accessions and improvements; and that he pay the plaintiff for the fruits and profits of the property the sum of twenty dollars per month from April 1, 1926, to the date of reinstatement; but affirmed the judgment appealed from in all other particulars.

From this judgment, Cabo Rodriguez alone appealed to this court.

The facts are as follows: In April, 1921, one Ramon Pórtela was the owner of a house and lot, used as a store, situated on Loiza street in the ward of Santuree, city of San Juan, and mortgaged the same to Dona Josefa Umpierre to secure a loan of $2,000, with interest thereon at the rate of one per cent, a month. Costs and attorney’s fees were not mentioned in this instrument. In May, 1923, Mrs. Umpierre assigned the mortgage to Jose Martinez Gonzalez. In the instrument of assignment, in which Ramon Pórtela appeared 'as a party, the mortgage was extended to May 30, 1925, and there was inserted the clause, “an additional sum of two hundred dollars is fixed for costs and attorneys’ fees, [586]*586the mortgage being increased to that extent.” On the same day, Ramon Pórtela leased the mortgaged property to Jose Martinez for a term of two years ending May 7, 1925, at a monthly rental of $30. Later Ramon Pórtela sold his equity in the property to Fermina Isabel Anaud, a resident of Spain, for whom he thereafter, as agent and attorney in fact, collected the monthly rental and paid the interest on the mortgage at the agreed rate of one per cent., or $20 per month.

The lease having expired on May 7, 1925, Mis. Anaud, through her agent and attorney in fact, Ramon Pórtela, on May 15, 1925, notified Jose Martinez in writing that the lease had expired, and requested that possession of the premises be surrendered as soon as possible. At the end of May, 1925, the interest on the mortgage for the month of May was paid and a receipt taken therefor.

June 3, 1925, Martinez brought a petition for the summary foreclosure of the mortgage, in which he prayed for a writ demanding payment of $2,000 as principal, $25 as interest due May 30, 1925, and $200' as indemnity for costs, disbursements, and attorneys’ fees. A writ issued June 6th and was served June 20th on Maria Luisa Blanco (the daughter of Mrs. Anaud and wife of Ramon Pórtela) at number 34 Luna street, San Juan, as the person in charge of the mortgaged property. Maria Luisa Blanco was not the authorized agent of either her mother or her husband, nor was she in charge of the mortgaged property.

On June 26,1925, Rafael Pórtela, a brother of Ramon, made a deposit in court in the foreclosure proceeding of $2,000 for the payment of the amount of the mortgage. Jose Martinez accepted the $2,000 as a partial payment of his daim, of $2,225, and moved for an order authorizing the issuance of a cheek for the amount of the deposit. August 19, 1925, the district judge directed the secretary to issue a cheek to Martinez for the amount of the deposit to be thus credited on Ms claim.

Thereafter, on July 21, 1925, Martinez moved for an order directing a sale of the mortgaged property for the payment of interest to.May,30, and of the $200 indemnity for costs, disbursements, and attorneys’ fees. The next day the district judge ordered ■the sale, and the property was sold on the 18th of August, 1925, to Jose Martinez, who was the only bidder, for $1,200. On the purchase priee he was credited by the marshal -with $225 in satisfaction of his claim for accrued interest and the item of $200 to cover costs, disbursements, and attorneys’ fees, and paid the balance in cash to the marshal. October 10, 1925, the marshal executed a deed to Jose Martinez of the property and, on the same • day, Martinez conveyed it to Eladio Yenderrozo; both of these deeds were reéorded in the Registry of Property on October 13, 1925.

August 18,1925, Mrs. Anaud brought the present suit or complaint against Martinez to have the foreclosure proceeding adjudged null and void. And on November 5, 1925, through- her attorney, she filed with the Registrar of Property of San Juan a certified copy of the complaint in her suit against Martinez as it then stood. November 14, 1925, the Registrar declined to record the complaint as a permanent record of notice of lis pendens, but entered a caveat for 120 days.

On November 21, 1925, Yenderrozo conveyed the property to Ignacio Cabo Rodriguez. July 30, 1926, Yenderrozo and Cabo Rodriguez by supplemental complaints were made parties defendant.

In Ms assignments of error on this appeal, the appellant complains that the Supreme Court erred in holding that he was not a third party and a purchaser in good faith, and assumed that the court held that he was “bound by a certain lis pendens filed in the Registry of Property in San Juan while this suit was pending in the District Court,” and that it erred in so holding.

In this court, it is conceded that the Supreme Court did not err in so far as it affirmed the judgment of the District Court declaring the summary foreclosure proceeding null aud void; that the marshal’s deed to Jose Martinez and the simulated transfer to Yenderrozo were without force and effect; and ordering the cancellation in the Registry of the record of the marshal’s deed to Jose Martinez and of any record that might have been made of the conveyance by Mm to Yenderrozo.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 F.2d 585, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3982, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-anaud-ca1-1931.