Succession of Valdés v. Acevedo

23 P.R. 684
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided April 25, 1916·No. No. 1342·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice Aldrey

delivered the opinion of the court.

On March 30, 1911, Ramón Valdés Cobián, as owner of the Central Ana María, and,Rafael Ufret, Jr., entered into á contract by a private instrument, the wife of the latter, Amelia Gutiérrez, being a party thereto, the said contract to be in force until June 30, 1913, and to include the grinding seasons of 1912 and 1913, Ufret agreeing to plant and •cultivate sixty cuerdas of sugar cane for the crop of 1911-12 and a like area for the following crops and binding himself [685]*685to sell the said sugar cane to Valdés during the grinding season from January to June, 1912, inclusive. In the same contract Valdés agreed to advance to Ufret the sum of $800 during the first year of the contract in such instalments as might he asked for by Ufret for the cultivation of the said land and for cutting, harvesting and transporting .the sugar cane produced thereon, the said instalments to hear interest at 10 per cent annually from time of delivery until paid and payment thereof to be made with the proceeds of the sugar cane contracted for as far as such proceeds might go, and the remainder in cash.. The debt was to be considered due from year to year at the termination of the grinding of the last sugar cane delivered by the grower and, in any event, on June 30, 1912, when the season closed, and if after striking a. balance the proceeds of the sugar cane should not cover the debt, the central might suspend payment of further sums and bring an action to recover, or credit its advance account for the following season with the unpaid balance. The price of the sugar cane was fixed at the value of six pounds of sugar in the New York market during the preceding month, deducting twenty-five cents per hundredweight of sugar for freight, commission, etc., the amount to be credited each month to be determined by an accounting to be made during the first two weeks of the following month. It was agreed also that Valdés should have the right to extend the contract unless Ufret delivered sufficient cane to cover the advances made to him and the interest, which right Ufret expressly granted to Valdés and agreed to execute such documents as might be necessary. In like manner it was agreed that Ufret should deliver to Valdés any sugar cane which he might purchase from other persons under the same conditions, obligations and prices as applied to his own sugar cane under the contract and that in so far as concerned the money which Ufret might need for the purchase of such sugar cane, they would enter into a special agreement at the proper time .providing what amounts should [686]*686be advanced by the central, bow payment should be secured and made, etc.

Performance of the said contract, which in substance is as above, was guaranteed by the appellant, Ramón Acevedo, as follows:

“That, having read the same, he is informed of all the conditions of this contract and that in consideration of its being entered into by the central with Ufret, the planter, and of the former’s agreement to advance to the latter the sum of $800 as agreed upon in the said contract, he binds himself and agrees to guarantee and does hereby guarantee and bind himself to respond for the payment of the said sum, with interest, as well as for the faithful and exact fulfilment of this contract and all and each of its conditions by Ufret, Jr., in favor of the said central, this guaranty to remain in force during the life of the said agreement or during such time as Ufret may be indebted to the central in any sum under the terms thereof. ’ ’

On October 20 of the same year the aforesaid contracting parties amended the said contract to the effect that Yal-dés should advance to Ufret $800 during the year 1912-13 for the cultivation of the said sugar cane, which amount he was to deliver in instalments, it being agreed that this clause should be held and considered as supplementary to the former agreement and remain in force as one of its clauses and conditions. Ramón Acevedo was not a party to this transaction.

On February 12, 1913, the parties entered into another contract, also without the intervention of Acevedo, by which they agreed to extend the contract of March 30, 1911, for two years, beginning July 1, 1913, and including the seasons of 1913-14 and 1914-15, binding themselves to comply faithfully and precisely with the conditions of the former agreement with the following modifications: That on February 13 Val-dés should pay to Ufret $400 and on the last day of February a further sum of $600 for the cultivation of the. sugar cane, subject to the conditions of the renewed agreement, and that thirty cents instead of twenty-five cents, the amount [687]*687agreed upon in the former contract, should he deducted from the price to he paid for the sugar cane.

The central opened an account with Ufret for the crop of 1911-12 which shows two debits of $400 each and others on account of the sugar cane and various credits for sugar cane delivered, and upon closing the account on June 11, 1912, a balance of $596.80 resulted against Ufret.

Another account with Ufret was opened on October- 27, 1911, for the season of 1912-13 in which different amounts were debited and other amounts credited for sugar cane delivered, and a balance being struck on June 16, 1913, a debit of $1,490.65 resulted against Ufret.

Valdes having sued the spouses Ufret and Ramón Acevedo for the amounts of the said balances with interest, judgment was rendered against the said spouses and against Acevedo as surety, from which judgment the latter took the present appeal praying for a reversal of the judgment as to him on the ground that the lower court committed various errors in rendering the judgment.

In his brief the appellant contends that the trial court erred in adjudging that he, as surety, should pay the amount sued for in the complaint; because it improperly construed his guaranty for the performance of the contract of March 30, 1911, which admits of no other construction than that he guaranteed the payment of the $800 to be advanced to Ufret according to the contract for the cultivation of the crop to be ground in the year 1912, but that he did. not guarantee the other $800 which by a later contract, in which he did not join, was to be advanced for cultivating and harvesting the crop of 1913, nor the amounts to be advanced to Ufret for the purchase of sugar cane from other persons, inasmuch as the manner of making these advances and guaranteeing their payment was to be provided for in another contract.

The parties to this appeal agree, and there is no doubt of it, that Acevedo guaranteed the payment of the $800 to be advanced to Ufret for agricultural purposes, for it is so [688]*688stated expressly in his guaranty, but in view of the pronouncement against the appellant in the judgment appealed from, the parties are at issue as to whether the obligations assumed by Acevedo extended beyond the $800 the payment of which he admits having guaranteed. This is really the fundamental question in this action.

As regards the amounts advanced by Valdes to Ufret for the purchase of sugar cane from other persons, it is obvious to us that their payment was not guaranteed by the appellant, inasmuch as it was stipulated in the contract that, the delivery of said sums, their repayment and the manner of guaranteeing the same, should be provided for in another special agreement, and there can be no doubt as to the intention of the parties in this regard.

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Succession of Valdés v. Acevedo, 23 P.R. 684 (prsupreme 1916).

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