West India Oil Co. v. Benítez Sugar Co.

46 P.R. 861
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 6, 1934
DocketNo. 6385
StatusPublished

This text of 46 P.R. 861 (West India Oil Co. v. Benítez Sugar Co.) 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
West India Oil Co. v. Benítez Sugar Co., 46 P.R. 861 (prsupreme 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Hutchison

delivered the opinion of the court.

Defendant in an action “for the recovery of money” appeals from an adverse judgment.- The first assignment is that the district court erred in overruling a demurrer based on the theory that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The complaint contained two causes of action. After setting forth facts sufficient to show that the amount sought to be recovered as a result of the first cause of action was due, plaintiff alleged “that the said sum of $16,607.91” was “due and unpaid” (está vencida, y no ha sido satisfecha). \ This was the fifth averment of the complaint. Appellant construes it as meaning that the goods described in the complaint had been sold on credit and that some unspecified period within which payment was to have been made had expired. Section 1095 of the Civil Code provided that: “Should the obligation not fix a period, but it can be inferred from its nature and circumstances that there was an intention to grant it -to the debtor, the courts shall fix the duration of the'same.”

The gist of the argument is that the sales referred to in the complaint extended over a period of >elév¿n months; - that in view of'this circumstance and of the fifth averment to the effect- that some unspecified period had expired, the logical inference should be' that the goods were not sold for cash but on credit; and that the complaint fails to state a cause of action because it does not specify the period within which payment was to' be made.

When the demurrer came on to be heard,, defendant made ho referéhcé to its'present theory'that'the fifth averment of [863]*863the complaint was tantamount to a statement that The goods ■had been sold on credit; bnt instead withdrew its' demurrer. After plaintiff had rested and submitted its case, defendant abandoned its affirmative defenses and stated that it.had ho evidence to offer bnt would rely upon'the theory that the'facts stated in the complaint did not constitute a cause of action. 'Even then, however, it gave no inkling-of its theory as to the meaning of the fifth averment. If on either of these occasions defendant had disclosed that theory, plaintiff would have had an opportunity to amend its complaint so as to remove all doubt as to the meaning thereof. After plaintiff had submitted its case, on the pleadings and on the admissions made by counsel for defendant in open court, the court in considering the sufficiency of the complaint had a right, to look to the answer of defendant for admissions implied or otherwise that would supply the alleged omissions or remove any doubt as to the meaning of the complaint. The court did not. specifically overrule the demurrer to. the complaint nor pass on the sufficiency of the complaint considered alone. [What the court did was to render judgment for the plaintiff on the facts disclosed by the pleadings, notwithstanding the suggestion made by defendant at the close of the trial that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a "cause of action. In the circumstances, defendant would have small reason to complain of the result, even if its contention as to the meaning of the fifth avermeht were more tenable.

Plaintiff in the third averment alleged that defendant had purchased the goods at an agreed price, that plaintiff had delivered the goods, and that defendant had accepted the same. This was enough to show that the amount agreed upon was due and owing to plaintiff. The fifth averment although proper was unnecessary. It was simply a formal statement of the result which followed as a corollary from the preceding averments. If, as defendant insisted at the trial, this was .A '• \ * 7 not an action on an open or current account, it was an action [864]*864to recover the price of goods sold and delivered to defendant and accepted by it. In either case the money became due on delivery and acceptance of the goods. Sons of Tomás Pietri v. Vicens Borthers, 33 P.R.R. 241; Berio v. Frau, 45 P.R.R. 143, and cases cited. There is nothing in the complaint npon which to pin the theory of an action on a stated or liquidated account. Hence we need not follow counsel for appellant in an extended discussion of the well-recognized differences and distinctions between an open or current account and a liquidated or stated account.

Even if the fifth averment he considered alone, its language is not open to the interpretation sought to be placed thereon by appellant. It is “the said sum of $16,607.91,” not a period of time that was alleged to be due (vencida). It can not be said that -a period of time, definite or indefinite,, “has not been paid” (no ha sido satisfecho). Moreover, the district judge no doubt construed defendant’s denial that the amount sought to be recovered in the first cause of action was due, in connection with the affirmative averments of the answer to the effect that the sales were not made for cash but on credit and that the term within which payment was to be' made has not expired. This denial so far as it was not. coupled with these affirmative averments, was offset by defendant’s admission as to the facts set forth in the third averment. Defendant also objected to the introduction of evidence-to. prove the facts alleged in the third averment as immaterial because those facts had been admitted by the answers When the district judge, after some argument said that defendant had admitted in its answer all of the facts set forth as a first cause of action, counsel for defendant apparently-acquiesced. Proof of the facts stated in the third,averment would have sufficed to show that the amount of the claim was-due and plaintiff was not permitted to prove these, facts, because'of defendant’s objection on.the ground,just referred to,, [865]*865and because of the trial judge’s theory as to the scope and extent of the admissions contained in the answer, acquiesced in by defendant. Thus defendant by its conduct admitted at the trial, if not by its answer, that the amount claimed in the first cause of action was due, and cannot now be heard to urge as a ground for reversal what amounts to some ambiguity and uncertainty rather than a failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

Plaintiff alleged as a second cause of action that defendant had subscribed and delivered a certain promissory note set forth in full in the complaint. The note is subscribed “Benitez Sugar Co., R. Ramos Casellas, administrador.” If, as appellant insists, the complaint fails to state a cause of action because it does not show that Ramos Casellas was authorized to execute the note, the omission was supplied by the answer. Defendant in its answer expressly admitted that it had “subscribed and delivered to plaintiff” the note set forth in the complaint. Defendant then alleged as a special defense “that at the time of affixing their signatures to the note it was agreed between the creditor and the'.debtor that if on July 30, 1930, said note could not be paid, the same •would be extended to July 30, 1931.” Thus defendant admitted the validity of the note and its obligation to pay the same, subject only to the alleged agreement as to an extension or renewal at maturity in the event of defendant’s inability to pay.

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46 P.R. 861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-india-oil-co-v-benitez-sugar-co-prsupreme-1934.