Succession of Suro v. Succession of Prado

21 P.R. 227
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided July 29, 1914·No. No. 1022·Published

Opinion

In the month of March of the year 1913 the Succession of Jnan Suro brought an action in the District Court' of San Juan, Section 1, against the Successions of Encarnación Prado, Alonso del Eío, and Joaquina Juliá, praying that judgment be rendered decreeing the nullity per se or the non-existence of a deed acknowledging a debt and creating a mortgage executed by Encarnación Prado in favor of Joaquina Juliá on November 29, 1879, before Notary Demetrio Jiménez y Moreno, in so far as it may affect the rights of the plaintiff succession; that the decree of nullity prayed for be extended to the proceedings for the collection of said mortgage credit including the adjudication of the mortgaged property to Joa-quina Juliá, its record in the Eegistry of Property of Arecibo and the sale of the said property by Joaquina Juliá to Alonso del Eío; that the court order a division of the "community interests held in the said property by the Succession of Alonso del Eío with the plaintiff succession and delivery by the Succession of Alonso del Eío to the latter of the part belonging to it; that the defendants be adjudged to pay to the plaintiffs the sum of $200,000 as the estimated profits from its said interest in the common property, together with the costs, expenses, and disbursements, including a fee of $5,000 for the professional services rendered by the plaintiff’s attorney.

[229]*229The facts alleged in the complaint to support the judgment prayed for are as follows:

First. Jfian Suro, plaintiff’s ancestor, was married to En-carnación Prado and died intestate about the year 1870.

Second. During the wedlock of Juan Suro and Encarna-ción Prado, Gabriel and Joaquín Suro were born to them and are their sole and universal heirs. Joaquin died about the year 1911 leaving his wife, Antonia Monserrat, and his daughter, Pilar Suro Monserrat, as his instituted heirs and they, together with Gabriel Suro, are the plaintiffs herein.

Third. Encarnación Prado died about the year 1911, leaving as her heirs, in addition to the plaintiffs, her son, Alfonso Prado, known as Alfonso Suro, as known heir, and John Doe and Eichard Eoe as unknown heirs. These last two names are fictitious and the plaintiffs promise to substitute the true names therefor should they appear.

Fourth. The Succession of Alonso del Eio is composed of his widow, Hortensia de León; his minor children, Maria and Juan del Eio, represented by their mother with patria potestas; his adult children, José, Josefa Belén, and Maxi-mina del Eio León, and Margarita and Eosa del Eio y Buscal and Angel de Angel, as heirs of Carmen del Eio y León.

Fifth. Joaquina Julia having died and her heirs being unknown, they are designated by the fictitious names of John Doe and Eichard Eoe.

Sixth. Juan Suro, plaintiff’s ancestor, was the owner in fee simple, with titles recorded in the Eegistry of Property of Arecibo, of two rural properties — one in the ward of San Lorenzo, municipal district of Morovis, composed of 469 cuer-das, and another of 600 cuerdas in the ward of North Moro-vis, divided into two tracts of 500 and 100 cuerdas■ — which two properties of 469 and 600 cuerdas respectively are described in the complaint.

Seventh. At the suggestion of Alonso del Eio, on-November 29, 1879, Encarnación Prado, wife of Juan Suro y Juliá, falsely representing herself to be the executrix and guardian [230]*230ad litem of Juan Suro Juliá (sic) and also as mother of the minor heirs of Juan Suro, but without first obtaining judicial authorization to encumber their property by reason of necessity and utility, appeared in her own right and in representation of the Succession of Juan Suro, together with Joaquina Juliá, before Notary ’Demetrio Jiménez y Moreno and acknowledged her indebtedness as such representative to Joaquina Juliá in the sum of $25,475.84, made up as follows: $8,675, owing by Juan Suro to Borreli, husband of Joaquina Juliá, secured by mortgage; $3,300, due from said Suro to Borreli as surety and principal debtor; $4,319.09, amount of an agricultural loan due from the plantation “Maria” to the firm of Barreras & Castillo; $5,133.93 for accrued interest, and $4,015.82 for further interest. In order to secure the payment to Joaquina Juliá of the said indebtedness, En-carnación Prado, representing herself to be the executrix and testamentary guardian ad litem of her deceased husband, Juan Suro Juliá (sic), and as mother with patria potestas ever her minor children, without previously obtaining judicial authorization by reason of necessity and utility, mortgaged the properties referred to by the said deed of November 29, 1879, they being the only properties proceeding from the conjugal partnership of Encarnación Prado and Juan Suro Juliá.

Eiglith. About the year 1887 or 1888, Joaquina Juliá instituted foreclosure proceedings against Encarnación Prado, widow of Suro, for the recovery of the acknowledged credit of $25,473.84, and with the exception of certain parcels of land alleged to have been sold for the payment of taxes the mortgaged property was adjudicated to Joaquina Juliá without summoning the heirs of Juan Suro Juliá or giving them an opportunity to be heard.

■Ninth. Alonso del Rio, who had been delegated by Joa-quina Juliá to prosecute the foreclosure proceedings, took possession in her name of the two properties which had been adjudicated to her.

[231]*231Tenth. In 1888 the properties adjudicated to Joaquina Jnliá were sold by her to Alonso del Río, who took possession thereof, and his heirs are now in possession of the same..

Eleventh. The partition of the'property belonging to the •conjugal partnership of Jnan Suro and Encarnación Prado was made in the very same year, 1879, when the mortgage was created, as was clearly shown in the registry of property, and Alonso del Rio knew it, bnt, nevertheless, he prevailed upon Encarnación Prado by deceitful advice and machinations to execute the acknowledgment of the mortgage credit in favor of Joaquina Julia with the intention of purchasing later the same properties for $6,000, which represented less than one-fourth of their value, by resorting to fraud and artifice and violating a contract. Moreover, the acknowledged credit was not owing to Joaquina Julia, for the acknowl- ' edgment was made for the sole purpose of protecting Encar-nación Prado against the action of certain creditors whose rights had been acknowledged by a contract.

Twelfth. The plaintiffs have not sold to Alonso del Rio, to his succession, or to any person whatsoever, the interest belonging to them in the said properties which they inherited from Juan Suro..

Thirteenth. The estimated profits from half of the said properties during the 25 years which they have been unlawfully in the possession of Alonso del Río and his succession may fairly be stated at $200,000, of which sum the plaintiffs have been deprived.

Fourteenth. The steps taken by the plaintiffs to secure from Alonso del Rio and his succession a partition of the community property in question as ganancial property of the conjugal partnership of Juan Suro and Encarnación Prado, half of which belongs to the plaintiffs by inheritance from their father, Juan Suro, have been fruitless.

The complaint concludes with the prayer that judgment be rendered containing the pronouncements already indicated.

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Succession of Suro v. Succession of Prado, 21 P.R. 227 (prsupreme 1914).

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