Segarra v. Santiago

29 P.R. 984
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 29, 1921
DocketNo. 2243
StatusPublished

This text of 29 P.R. 984 (Segarra 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
Segarra v. Santiago, 29 P.R. 984 (prsupreme 1921).

Opinion

Me. Chief Justice Heenández

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal taken by the plaintiff, José Policarpo-Segarra Bonilla, from a judgment of the District Court of Ponce dismissing the action of ejectment brought by him,in the said court on October 8, 1917, against José Santiago Martínez and Francisco María Franceschi Gregory.

The facts of the case are as follows:

At thé time of her death on May 11, 1889, Ramona Bonilla was the owner of a certain rural property called Tañí, which [985]*985is described in the complaint, and a partition of her estate having been made and approved by the court on December 19 of the same year, the said property was valued at 1,700 pesos and allotted to her heirs as follows: To each of her sons Carlos, Hipólito Aniceto and José Policarpo Segarra Bonilla, the plaintiff, a joint interest of 505.62% pesos and to her daughter María Francisca Belén a joint interest of 183.12% pesos, totaling the said value of 1,700 pesos. This partition was recorded in the Registry'of Property of Ponce.

By a deed of June 5, 1902, also recorded in the registry, Nereo Pirazzi acquired the interest of Hipólito Aniceto.

In 1905 the property was sold at public auction for delinquent taxes due to the Treasury of Porto Rico, but the proceedings leading up to the said sale were brought against the heirs of Severo Segarra and not against the said heirs of Ramona Bonilla, no notice of the sale having been given to them or to any person in their names. The purchaser of the property was Domingo Rinaldi, in whose name it was recorded in the registry.

The same property was again sold at public auction in 1911 as belonging to Rinaldi and was purchased by Nereo Pirazzi, in whose name it was recorded in the registry.

By a deed executed in December of 1912 Nereo Pirazzi sold the said property to Juan José Caraballo for the sum of $3,000, the grantee paying $500 in cash and creating a voluntary mortgage on the property in favor of Pirazzi for the remaining $2,500, and the sale and mortgage were recorded in the registry.

■ By a deed of September 6, 1913, recorded in the registry, Nereo Pirazzi assigned the mortgage to Francisco Maria Francesehi Gregory.

By a deed of June 16, 1915, Juan José Caraballo sold the property to Lorenzo Salicetti and by a deed of December 31, 1915, he and his wife, Teresa Vázquez, sold it to José Santiago Martinez, who assumed the obligation of the mort[986]*986gage and is now in possession of the property. The sales made by Caraballo to Salicetti and by Salicetti to Martinez were not recorded in the registry.

By a deed of May 10, 1917, the plaintiff, José Policarpo Segarra Bonilla, acquired from Salvador Segarra the joint interest of 505.62% pesos which had been allotted to the latter’s father, Carlos Segarra, deceased, and by another deed of May 31 of the same year he also acquired from Maria Francisca Belén her joint interest of 183.12% pesos, his interest in the property then representing 1,194.37% pesos and consisting of the share allotted to him in the partition of the estate of his deceased mother, Ramona Bonilla, and the two other shares later acquired by public instruments.

In view of these facts, which were set forth in a verified complaint, the plaintiff prays that in due course of law judgment be entered as follows:

(a) That the plaintiff is the owner in fee of an undivided interest in the property described in the complaint representing $1,194.37% of the $1,700 at which the property was appraised * * * which the defendants shall place at the disposal of the plaintiff.

(b) That the assessments, levies and sales at public auction of the whole of the property in question, the sale by Nereo Pirazzi to Juan José Caraballo, the mortgage still existing in favor of Francisco Maria Franceschi, the sale by Juan José Caraballo to Lorenzo Salicetti, the sale by Sali-cetti to José Santiago y Martinez and all the records and entries made in the registry with regard to the property are null and void in so far as they affect or may affect the rights of the plaintiff.

(c) That defendant José Santiago Martinez pay to the plaintiff the sum of $5,000 for the fruits, rents and profits received by him from the said property belonging to the plaintiff.

[987]*987(d) That the defendants who may plead to the complaint pay the costs, expenses, disbursements and attorney fees.

Defendants José Santiago Martínez and Francisco Maria Franceschi demurred to the complaint on the ground that it did not allege facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and the demurrer was overruled in October of 1920.

On motion of defendant José Santiago Martinez it was ordered that the vendors and former owners of the property, Lorenzo Salicetti and his wife, Teresa Vázquez, Juan José Caraballo and Nereo Pirazzi, be summoned as warrantors.

José Santiago Martinez, Francisco Maria Franceschi and Nereo Pirazzi answered the complaint and without denying the facts alleged therein set up as new matter the following:

“By public deed No. 71 of October 3, 1913, executed before notary José Tous Soto, María Francisca Belén and José Policarpo Segarra y Bonilla, the plaintiff, assigned and transferred, in consideration of the sum of $250 paid at the time by the assignee, to Nereo Pi-razzi y Maffiola all of the rights and interests ‘which they had, have or may have’ for any consideration, title or reason in the rural property described in the complaint, waiving all claim to the said rights, whatever they may be, and ratified in the said deed all of the previous transfers of the said property made at public auction by The People of Porto Rico for the collection of taxes and confirmed and approved such sales, whatever defects may appear in the procedure, the purpose of the said deed being, as stated therein, to clear the title of Pirazzi from any defect or flaw.”

The case went to trial on the complaint and answer and the court entered judgment on April 30, 1920, dismissing the complaint in all its parts and imposing upon the plaintiff the costs, expenses, disbursements and fees of the attorney for the defendants. In his opinion the trial judge says that the issue had become limited to the interest that the plaintiff acquired from Salvador Segarra, the son and heir of Carlos Segarra Bonilla, inasmuch as in open court at the commencement of the trial the plaintiff abandoned his claim [988]*988as to the other interests, and on that issue the judge expressed himself as follows:

“The only question is whether José Policarpo Segarra, the plaintiff, can assert the title acquired by him from his nephew Salvador as against Nereo Pirazzi and his successors in interest, notwithstanding the existence of deed No. 71 of October 3, 1913, * * *.
“The court is of the opinion that the plaintiff, José Policarpo Segarra, is estopped from attacking the said title, inasmuch as the deed of October 3, 1913, not only acknowledges the dominion title of Pirazzi to the property, but also' expressly ratifies the public sale by which Pirazzi became the owner.

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Bluebook (online)
29 P.R. 984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/segarra-v-santiago-prsupreme-1921.