Schwartz v. District Court of Puerto Rico

73 P.R. 800
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedOctober 3, 1952
DocketNo. 1939
StatusPublished

This text of 73 P.R. 800 (Schwartz v. District Court of Puerto Rico) 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
Schwartz v. District Court of Puerto Rico, 73 P.R. 800 (prsupreme 1952).

Opinion

Me. Justice Ortiz

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The petitioners herein filed in the former District Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, a complaint against the First National Bank of Miami, Miami, Florida, for the liquidation and partition of community property. It was alleged therein that the aforesaid corporate entity, domiciled in Florida, was instituted the sole and universal heir under William A. Hutton’s will, in its capacity as “beneficiary” (trustee) for the benefit of Mrs. Yera Bryce during her lifetime, and that upon the latter’s death, the perfect ownership would pass to several charitable institutions. The plaintiffs allege that Elizabeth N. Schwartz, their predecessor, was Hutton’s wife and that, upon their death, they left community property consisting, in part, in a farm located in Puerto Rico, money deposited in banks in Puerto Rico and Florida, and two U. S. savings bonds in Florida, which properties were left to the defendant in the will. The complaint prays for the partition and division of said community property.

After an order to secure the effectiveness of the judgment as to such properties was entered, the summons and the complaint were served on Mr. Herbert S. McConnell, attorney-at-law, as the defendant’s alleged agent. Upon motion filed to that effect, the aforesaid Court of San Juan entered an order decreeing the invalidity of the service. Said order is challenged in this petition for certiorari.

On December 3, 1949, a qualified officer of The First National Bank of Miami, Miami, Florida, subscribed a Power of Attorney in favor of Herbert S. McConnell, domiciled in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which textually copied reads thus:

[803]*803“POWER OF ATTORNEY
“Know all men by these presents that the undersigned, The First National Bank of Miami, Miami, Florida, a corporation with its principal place of business in the City of Miami, County of Dade, and State of Florida, does hereby appoint Herbert S. McConnell, of the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico, its attorney for it and in its name and stead to do all things, execute all documents and take every manner of action pertaining to or in connection with the estate, property or affairs of William Arthur Hutton, who died on or about November 30, 1949, in Dorado, Puerto Rico, including (without limiting the generality of the foregoing) the power to collect, receipt for, make claim for or sue for any distributive share, legacy, bequest, or claim, of any kind, nature or description, which it may have against or may now or at any future date be entitled to from the estate of the said William Arthur Hutton, deceased, including any distributive share, legacy, bequest, or claim of any kind, nature or description, which it may have against or may now or at any future date be entitled to from said estate as a trustee for the benefit of any other person; the power to apply to or petition any court or the judge or judges of any court in Puerto Rico for the appointment of an administrator, executor, curator, trustee or other personal representative of the estate of said William Arthur Hutton, deceased; the power to accept or consent to the appointment as such administrator, executor, curator, trustee or other personal representative of the said estate of any person or corporation, including the power to accept such appointment himself in his own name, and to act as such personal representative in his own name; the power to employ counsel and to act as counsel himself; the power to pay taxes, settle or compromise tax claims, appear op represent it before any tax authority, or take any action or sign any document relating to any tax liability which arises or may arise under the laws of the United States of America or of Puerto Rico; hereby revoking all former powers of attorney or authorization whatever in the premises.
“Giving and granting unto its said attorney full power and authority to do and' perform all and every act and thing whatsoever, requisite, necessary or proper to be done in and about the premises, as fully, to all intents and purposes, as it might or could do if personally present, giving and granting unto its [804]*804said attorney full power and authority to substitute and appoint from time to time any attorney or attorneys under him, the said attorney, with the same or more limited powers, and such sub7 stitute or substitutes at pleasure to remove and another or others to appoint, hereby ratifying and confirming all that its said attorney, or his substitute or substitutes, shall lawfully do, or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
“In Witness Whereof, the said corporation has caused their presents to be signed in its name by its proper officer, and its corporate seal to be affixed, attested by its Assistant Cashier, who is duly qualified and authorized to do so, this third day of December, 1949, at Miami, County of Dade, and State of Florida, in the United States of America.
The First National Bank of Miami, Miami, Florida
By (signed) R. D. Rodabaugh
Trust Officer
Attest: (signed) T. J. Trout
Assistant Cashier.
In the presence of:
(sigd) C. W. MacFarlane
(sigd) H. M. Harvey.” 1

On December 19, 1949, McConnell, represented by another attorney, filed in the District Court, Bayamón Section, a petition requesting that he (McConnell) be appointed Ancillary Administrator of the inheritance estate of the late William A. Hutton. McConnell explained that he requested the appointment in his capacity as attorney in fact of the First National Bank of Miami, Florida, so that he could act in Puerto Rico as an assistant of that corporation, which had been designated by a court of Florida as administrator of Hutton’s estate. The District Court of Bayamón designated McConnell permanent Judicial Administrator of the estate, upon furnishing the proper bond. He was ordered to take whatever steps were necessary in connection with the partition of the inheritance.

[805]*805Since the defendant arid intervener herein is a foreign corporation, in order that the 'Courts of Puerto Rico may have effective jurisdiction over it, two requisites must be fulfilled, to wit, that the said corporation has done business in Puerto Rico and that it has consented to the exercise of such jurisdiction by our courts' Restatement of the Law of Conflict of Laws, § 89; Moore’s Federal Practice, Vol. 2, p. 969, 2d ed.; Stetson China Co. v. D. C. Andrews & Co., 9 Federal Rules Decisions 135 and Jacobowitz v. Thomson, 141 F. 2d 72. To render judgment against a foreign corporation without fulfilling those requisites would be tantamount to condemning it without a hearing, in violation of due process. It would be contrary to the constitutional due process clause to render a judgment against a corporation organized under the laws of another state, where such corporation does not do business in the jurisdiction where the judgment is rendered or has no property therein or has no qualified agent therein upon whom process and the complaint may be served. Riverside Mills v. Menefee, 237 U. S. 189; Bagdon v. Phil.

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Bluebook (online)
73 P.R. 800, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwartz-v-district-court-of-puerto-rico-prsupreme-1952.