Succession of Orcasitas v. Succession of Orcasitas

21 P.R. 105
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided July 7, 1914·No. No. 1115·Published

Opinion

Me. Chief Justice HerNÁNdez

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal by the Succession of José Ramón Orca-sitas y Ortiz from the judgment which the District Court of San Juan, Section 1, rendered on November 25, 1913, in the-above-entitled case dismissing the complaint with costs against, the plaintiff.

.In the said complaint the Succession of José Ramón Orca-sitas y Ortiz prays for a judgment with two pronouncements, as follows: First, that the mercantile partnership of Orca-sitas & Company which was created by a public instrument of February 22, 1877, be declared in liquidation and that a receiver be appointed to liquidate the same and apportion the assets among the partners in accordance with the Code of Commerce, or that, in case this should be impossible, the plaintiff be indemnified in the sum of $25,000; and, second, that the court order a partition and distribution of the estate of Casiano Orcasitas y Ortiz, deceased, which is unliquidated and in the possession of the Succession of José Orcasitas y Ortiz, also deceased, or intermixed' with the property of the latter.

In support of the first pronouncement the plaintiff alleges that on February 22, 1877, the brothers José and-Casiano Orcasitas y Ortiz entered into a contract for the formation, of a mercantile partnership under the firm name of Orcasi-tas & Company, which assumed charge of the liquidation of [107]*107all the assets and liabilities of another former partnership created by the same brothers on December 21, 1867, under the same firm name; that Casiano Orcasitas y Ortiz died on January 15 of the following year, 1878, and consequently all the partnership assets, papers, and boohs of accounts of Orcasitas & Company remained in the possession of the surviving partner, José Orcasitas -y Ortiz, who from that time, and upon his death his heir, the defendant, continued in charge of all the assets and liabilities of the firm, and neither the plaintiff succession nor its' predecessor in interest had access to, or intervention in, the business of the said firm; that Casiano Orcasitas Ortiz executed a will on December 28, 1878, in which, among other things, he authorized his brother and partner, José Orcasitas y Ortiz, to liquidate the mercantile firm of Orcasitas & Company, naming as soli-dary executors of his said will his said brother in the first place and others on his failure. As he left no legitimate ascendants or descendants, he instituted as his sole and universal heirs his three brothers, José, Pedro and José Ramón, and his sister, Teresa Orcasitas y Ortiz, the first to one-half of his estate and the other three to the remaining half in equal shares; that neither J osé Ramón Orcasitas y Ortiz nor subsequently his heir, the plaintiff, was summoned or notified to intervene in any legal liquidation of Orcasitas & Company and they have not done,so; that José Orcasitas y Ortiz died about the year 1898 and that at present his succession is composed of Josefa Orcasitas y Delgado in her own right and as the sole and universal testamentary heir of her deceased brother, Antonio Orcasitas Delgado;' that José Ramón Orca-sitas y Ortiz died in July, 1911, and his universal heirs are his legitimate and only children, José, Casiano, Pedro, Pan-taleón and Josefa Orcasitas y Ruiz; that José Orcasitas y Ortiz, and after his death his heir,- the defendant, instead of liquidating the commercial firm of Orcasitas & Company and the former firm of the same name according to law, disposed of all the partnership assets by holding possession [108]*108of a part thereof and alienating the rest; that a just and equitable liquidation of the two firms of Orcasitas & Company would show that not less than $25,000 belongs to the plaintiff; that before and since the year 1880 the Succession of Casiano Orcasitas Ortiz, through some of its members, has been demanding extra judicially the liquidation which it now prays for.

In support of the second pronouncement prayed for the plaintiff alleges its character as the universal heir of José Orcasitas y Ortiz; the character of the defendant as the universal heir of-José Orcasitas y Ortiz; the death of Casiano Orcasitas Ortiz which occurred on January 15, 1878, and the institution of heirs made by him in his will executed on December 28, 1877, the partition of the estate being still pending notwithstanding the extrajudicial demands made year after year for said partition.

The defendant succession admitted some of the facts alleged in the complaint and denied others, alleging as the principal ground of defense that the liquidation of . the firm of Orcasitas & Company and the partition of the estate of Ca-siano Orcasitas y Ortiz had been effected by a deed of January 8, 1881, pursuant to the wishes of Casiano Orcasitas y Ortiz as expressed in his will of December 28, 1877, and that both José Orcasitas y Ortiz, heir and executor of Casiano Orcasitas Ortiz, and also Pedro Orcasitas, another of his heirs, were parties to that deed.

Among other evidence there were introduced at the trial the will executed by Casiano Orcasitas y Ortiz on December 28,1877, and the deed of January 8, 1881, to which the defendant refers in its answer.

In clause 4 of his will Casiano Orcasitas y Ortiz states that £ihis property is composed of the balance due him as shown by the books of the commercial firm doing business finder the firm name of Orcasitas & Company, of which the only managing partners are he and his brother, José Orca-sitas.”

[109]*109In. clause 5 lie states that “in view of the undoubted right which the testator has to dispose of his property at will because he has no heirs at law, he expressly authorizes his partner and brother, José Orcasitas, to do as he deems most convenient, either liquidating or dissolving the partnership, and the heirs instituted by him shall have no right of action therefore, for they must accept their inheritances under these conditions and in the manner in which the same may be delivered to thepi by his said brother in view of the confidence he has that his brother will act with the customary, loyalty and good faith which he has always shown. ’ ’

In clause 6 Casiano names as his executors “in the first place, his said brother, José Orcasitas, in the second place, Eustasio Zalduondo and, in the third place, Antonio Yalle, the three jointly and each individually and in solidum, extending the statutory term of the executorship of one year to such time as they may require, granting them full and unlimited power to the end that, extra judicially and not otherwise, which is strictly prohibited, they may proceed to the settlement and liquidation of his estate, having due regard to the provisions of the foregoing clause which forbids all judicial proceedings and authorizes-the first executor to do whatever he may think best, wherefore the balance which he may strike in the books will be sufficient and will serve to prove the delivery of the amount belonging to each heir.”

And in clause 7 “he institutes and names as his sole and universal heirs, he having no legitimate ascendants or descendants, his three brothers and one sister in the following proportions: Half of his estate to José Orcasitas and the other half to Pedro, José Ramón and Teresa in equal shares, the two last named now being in Spain.

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Succession of Orcasitas v. Succession of Orcasitas, 21 P.R. 105 (prsupreme 1914).

21 P.R. 105 (Succession of Orcasitas v. Succession of Orcasitas) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.