García v. Fernández
García v. Fernández
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court. On April 4 of last year, Guillermo García Mayo brought an action of unlawful detainer in the District Court of San
The evidence produced at the trial shows:
1. That by a public instrument executed on January 2, of last year, Constantino Fernández, as the attorney-in-fact of Guillermo Garcia, leased to Policarpo Fernández part of the first floor of house No. 1, San José street, for a term of six years, which was to begin to run on the first day of said month and expire on December 31, 1909, “during which period the lessee shall pay the owner a rent of $30 per month, without any further requisite than the receipt of his representative,” according to the second clause of the contract.
2. That on March 31, 1904, Policarpo Fernández deposited
3. That the defendant, Policarpo Fernández, replying to an interrogatory, stated that on March 31, at 10.30 a. m., he had offered the plaintiff Garcia the money for that month’s rent, in the hall of the house No. 1 San José street, in the presence of Juan González and Alfredo Suárez, which money Garcia refused to receive under the pretext that he did not have the receipt with him; and upon examination of Juan González and Alfredo Suarez the former stated that he was present on March 31 when Fernández tendered to Garcia the $30 for the rent for said month, and that Garcia refused to accept said sum on the ground that he did not have the receipt with him; and the latter testified that on April 30, he was requested by Fernández to be present when he tendered Garcia the money for the rent of the house, but that he did not remember whether Fernández had made a similar request on March 31.
4. Witnesses Edgardo Aruti, José Lugo and Salvador Mi-rabel testified as follows: The first named stated that Garcia had commissioned him to collect of Fernández the rent for the month of March; that he tried to collect it on April 2d
5. That of witnesses Esperanza Marin, Robustino Rodriguez, Gregorio Dimas and Juan Cortinez, the first named deposed that she had been living for three or four months in the upper part of Garcia’s house, who did not collect the rent the first day of the month, but from the fourth to the sixth; the second, that he lives in Garcia’s house, who collects his rent on the fourth or fifth of the month and never on the first; the third, that he never collects the rent of the houses under his charge the last day of the month, but during the first days of the following month, and that he had never sued tenants for failure to pay their rent on the third or fourth; and the.fourth, that as a house agent he does not collect on the last day of the month, but during the first days of the following month, this being the general custom.
Other witnesses have appeared in court to impugn the truth of the deposit made by Fernández on March 31; but the merit of their statements need not be considered in deciding this appeal.
The District Court of San Juan rendered judgment on June 20 of last year, and on the ground that a failure to pay the price agreed on is a cause for dispossession, and that Fer-nández in making the tender of payment and the deposit did not comply with the provisions of the Civil Code, sustained the complaint and adjudged Policarpo Fernández to be dis
Policarpo Fernández appealed from this decision, and in his written argument before this Supreme Court, after relating the facts appearing in the record of the case, stated: “The reasons or legal points upon which the appeal taken is based are the following: (1) The plaintiff did not have, nor has he, any cause of action in this case.” It is true that a failure to pay the price stipulated in a lease contract constitutes a ground for dispossession, according to article 1561 of the Law of Civil Procedure formerly in force. But failure to pay, at what time? In the question of a contract of lease under which the rent is payable monthly, are we to understand that the payment must be made exactly on the last day of every month, when the contract stipulates nothing specific in this respect? We believe not. We believe that in such cases, as section 1155 of the Civil Code provides only that the lessee is obliged to pay the rent under the terms stipulated; and if nothing has been stipulated in this respect, the customs of the place should be followed, in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of section 6 (7), of the Civil Code. And this being the case, the very evidence produced by the other party shows, by the statements of his witnesses, Robustino Rodriguez, Gregorio Dimas and Juan Cortinez, that in this city it is not the custom to collect rents monthly exactly on the last day of the month, but during the first days of the following month, Robustino Rodriguez adding that the very plaintiff himself, Garcia, was in the habit of collecting on the fourth or fifth. And if this be so, as the complaint was presented on the fourth day of April for nonpayment of the rent for the preceding month of March, it cannot be alleged that there existed such failure to pay, which is
The question to he decided in this appeal is limited to whether the action of unlawful detainer is based on good ground, namely, the non-payment of the rent agreed on, which is the third of the causes enumerated in section 1560 of the Law of Civil Procedure as grounds for an action of unlawful detainer, or, what amounts to the same thing, whether Poli-carpo Fernández paid in due time the rent of the first floor of house No. 1 San José street, in the city of San Juan, said rent being for the month of March of last year.
It was agreed in the lease executed January 2, 1904, that said contract was for a term of six years, to begin on the first day of January of said year, and, consequently, to end on December 31, 1909. It was also agreed that the lessee would pay the owner $30 per month, without any further requisite than the receipt of his representative. It is deduced here-from that each monthly payment of rent covers the period
According to the terms, of the contract, the only requisite necessary for the payment of the monthly rent was the receipt for the price of such rent, and this requisite was duly complied with by Guillermo Garcia, as the statements of the witnesses Edgardo Aruti, José Lugo and Salvador Mirabel conclusively show that Garcia desired and endeavored to collect of Fernández, in exchange for the proper receipt, the price of the rent due for the month of March of last year; and as Fernandez failed to make the payment, a legal cause arose for the action of unlawful detainer brought against him. The tolerance observed by Garcia toward other tenants in the house with regard to the collection of rent due and the custom which may exist in this city in that respect, do not alter the conditions of the lease contract entered into between García and Fernandez.
The appellant has not maintained in the appeal the validity of the deposit alleged to have been made by Fernandez; but even though the existence of such deposit on March 31, 1904, were granted, it does not appear that the sum deposited had been previously tendered to García and that the latter had not accepted it; nor does it appear that he was informed of the deposit having been made, for which reason the conditions necessary to free the debtor Fernández of his obligation, in accordance with the provisions of section 1145 of the Civil Code, were absent.
For the reasons stated, the judgment of the court of San Juan rendered on June 20th of last year must be held to con
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.