Trueba v. Martínez

33 P.R. 446
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 27, 1924
DocketNo. 2792
StatusPublished

This text of 33 P.R. 446 (Trueba v. Martínez) 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
Trueba v. Martínez, 33 P.R. 446 (prsupreme 1924).

Opinion

Me. Justice Franco Soto

delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff-appellants set np two canses of action — one for the generic revendication of certain common interests in a property called Providencia and the other, which is the basis of the former, for securing an annulment of the sale of the said property made by the marshal of the District Court of San Juan to Martínez Vallés and Isern Barrancos in an action for the foreclosure of a mortgage brought by them against the heirs of María de Jesús XJrrutia, the predecessors in interest of the plaintiffs.

The action of revendication is based substantially on the ownership or title claimed by the plaintiffs in the joint in[447]*447terests sued for and on the present possession of the property by the firms of Valide july, Rodríguez & Company, Ltd., and Rosales & Company. In relation to the nullity of the sale of the property the following is alleged: (a) The acquisition of the property by Bernardo Suárez Rodriguez and his wife, María de Jesús Urrutia, during wedlock for a valuable consideration and with money of the conjugal partnership; (b.) the status of the plaintiffs as sole and universal heirs of the persons in whom was vested the ownership title to the property when the action for the foreclosure of the mortgage* was brought; and (c) irregularities and omissions in the said action, to wit: 1. Lack of personal or constructive service on plaintiffs Trueba y Suárez. 2. Their failure to enter appearance. 3. Invalidity of the judgment rendered. 4. Absolute nullity per se of the auction sale of the property and the consequent invalidity of the conveyance made thereunder.

In their answer the defendants set up a general denial against both causes of action, denying the status of heirs alleged by the plaintiffs and the existence of the defects and irregularities of procedure recited in the complaint and alleging that on the contrary each and all of the proceedings for the foreclosure of the mortgage were correct and in conformity with the provisions of law and the practice of the courts.

In addition to their denials the defendants set up as •defenses their status of hypothecary third persons, the prescription of the action of nullity and acquisitive prescription in favor of the present possessors, citing section 1858 ■of the Civil Code in support of the last.

The issue being thus joined, the trial court considered the case on its merits and rendered judgment dismissing' the complaint. In its opinion the court set out the following findings:

“The evidence having- 'shown that Bernardo Suarez Urrutia is living, the plaintiffs amended their complaint so as to limit their [448]*448claim to two-thirds of the estate, or what is alleged to belong to them as the sole heirs of their mother, Antonia Suárez Urrutia, of their uncle, Jesús Suárez Urrutia, and of their deceased sisters, Mercedes and Maria Teresa.
“We find that Bernardo Suárez Rodríguez designated as his heirls his legitimate children Bernardo, Jesús and Maria Antonia Suárez Urrutia and left to his second wife, Vicenta Fontanals, one-third of his estate in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code; but it has not been proved that they are heirs of Jesús Suárez Urru-tia and much less that they are his sole heirs.
“The certificate presented to prove the death of Jesús Suárez Urrutia shows that he died on February 8, 1903, but in no manner can it prove that he died unmarried and that the plaintiffs are his sole heirs, in the absence of any other kind of evidence, as in this case.
“From the evidence it appears that Bernardo Suárez, uncle of the plaintiffs, is living and has children, and this being a fact admitted by the parties, we must admit that Bernardo was an heir in capita with a right equal to that of all of the plaintiffs who would inherit per stirpes.
“The evidence also proves that when desús Suárez Urrutia died' on February 8, 1903, he was lawfully married to Petrona de Jesús Santana, who by virtue of the provisions of sections 821 and 822 of the Civil Code then in force had recognized successory rights in both the intestate and the testate inheritance in concurrence with the descendants and the ascendants; but it is impossible in this ease to determine the extent of such rights because no evidence has been offered to show whether the said Jesús Suárez Urrutia left a will, or who were his testamentary or forced he.irs.
’“From all of this it follows that the plaintiffs only had a right to inherit one-third of one-half from their maternal grandmother and two-ninths of the other half from their grandfather, as it is impossible to show that they inherited anything from their uncle Jesús because it has not been proved in any manner that they were testate or intestate heirs of the said Jesús Suárez.
“As in an action of revendieation the burden is on the plaintiff to prove clearly his title to the property sued for so as to leave no room for doubt about the extent of that title, the court concludes that in this case it is absolutely impossible on the evidence examined to determine clearly and precisely the extent of the condominium that the plaintiffs are suing for in this action.
“The court find's that in the complaint filed by administrator [449]*449Pedro de Arana in the proceedings brought against the persons who compose the defendant succession, which proceedings are sought to be annulled, appear the names of the members of the defendant succession known to the plaintiffs, the unknown members having been summoned by publication.
“It is also proved that in those proceedings the summons was. issued, for although it does not appear in the record, it is clearly-deduced from the publication of the summons, as also that the court, had jurisdiction because it was a real action.
“The court also finds that the order of the court in which the-said proceedings were brought is valid, because it appears to have-'been made by virtue of an affidavit signed and filed by one of the; attorneys for the plaintiffs showing to the court that some defendants lived outside of Porto Rico; that there was a good cause of action, and that they were necessary or lawful parties.
“The court finds that t-he minors were summoned by publication because they were absent, and that at the instance of one of them the court appointed a guardian ad litem, who qualified and acted as such, engaging the services of an attorney who entered appearance in the proceedings.
“It was proved that the incapacity of Benigno Trueba Gutiérrez was declared by the District Court of San Juan on October llr 1905; that Bernardo Suarez IJrrutia, -who then lived in Porto Rico,, was appointed as his guardian and that the latter appointed as his substitute .Herminio Suarez y Suarez when he left for Spain accompanying the incapacitated Gutiérrez.
“That in 1907 Antonio Trueba Suárez, son of the incapacitated Benigno, came to Porto Rico and lived about sis months at Canó-vanas in the house of Fernández & 'Sobrino, one of whose partners was Herminio Suárez y Suárez.

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Bluebook (online)
33 P.R. 446, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trueba-v-martinez-prsupreme-1924.