Huertas v. Elzaburu
Huertas v. Elzaburu
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Damiana Huertas y Pulido, on October 15, 1903, brought an action for recovery in the Pistrict Court of San Juan against Pedro de Elzaburu, alleging that she was the owner,, under a recorded title, of an estate containing 200 cuerdas, 120 thereof situated in the barrio of Sabana Llana, municipal district of Río Piedras, and 80 in the barrio of Cuevas, in the municipal district of Trujillo Alto. She describes the boundaries thereof, explains the antecedents, and affirms that as a consequence of the action of unlawful detainer brought by Elzaburu against Mollfulleda, to which we have made reference above, the former had entered upon the possession of about 40 cuerdas belonging to the plaintiff, Mrs. Pluertas; and she closes with the prayer that she be held to be the owner of the estate of 200' cuerdas, and that Pedro de Elzaburu be adjudged to restore to her the 39.858 cuerdas of which he is at present in possession as a consequence of the action of unlawful detainer mentioned; that the deed and the record in the registry of property in favor of Elzaburu be corrected as. to one of the boundaries, and that the latter make restitution, of the products produced, or which should have been produced, and that the costs be taxed against him.
Pedro de Elzaburu made answer to this complaint on January 4, 1904, alleging that he is the owner under a recorded title of an estate situated in the barrio of Sabana Llana of the municipal district of Río Piedras, containing 110 cuerdas-oí land,. the boundaries of which he describes; which estate he acquired by purchase from' the Spanish Government in Porto Rico, after having complied with the proper formalities, inasmuch as said estate was shown under No. 230 in the general inventory of national property; that before tak
The defendant also filed a cross-complaint praying for the annulment of the contract of purchase and sale of a rural estate and the deed contained in said contract, executed by Juan Mollfulleda, as the attorney in fact of Bartolomé Cusso, in favor of Damiana Huertas, upon which sale the latter bases the present action for recovery; that certain proceedings and decisions relating to the title of the Huertas property be likewise annulled and, consequently, that the record of said deed and of the records of the conversion of the possession into ownership contained in the Eegistry of Property of San Juan be ordered cancelled.
The plaintiff, Damiana Huertas, contested the cross-corn-
On January 27, 1905, the case was called to trial, both parties appearing through their counsel, and the District Court of San Juan, after having read the pleadings and heard the evidence and the arguments, is of the opinion that the facts and the law are against the plaintiff, and against the defendant as to the cross-complaint; and, consequently, on January 31, 1905, rendered judgment holding that the plaintiff, Damiana Huertas, should not recover anything from the defendant, Pedro de Elzaburu, and deciding, as it did, that the cross-complaint should be dismissed, with the costs against -the plaintiff. This judgment was entered February 2, 1905.
Both parties appealed from the foregoing judgment, the plaintiff because her - complaint was dismissed, and the defendant because his cross-complaint was dismissed.
They then appeared in this Supreme Court and presented with the record an uncertified copy of the documents which, according to the index, served as evidence of the facts which each alleged in his favor, the following appearing at the eiid of said copy:
“We, counsel for the plaintiff and defendant, certify that the foregoing copy of the matter it contains is correct, and we accept it for the purpose of the appeal taken by the plaintiff from the judgment dismissing her complaint, and by the defendant from the judgment dismissing his cross-complaint. San Juan, April 17, 1905. — Manuel F. Eossy, counsel for the plaintiff; Diaz & Texidor, Lie. J. Texidor, counsel for defendant. ’ ’
They then filed their briefs in this court, in which each sustained his allegations and legal considerations advanced in
All the evidence presented in this action is documentary, no witnesses having been heard, and no reference having been made to such testimony in the record. But the record transmitted to this court does not contain any bill of exceptions, or statement of facts, or a statement of the case; and, according to the judgment of this court, it makes no difference whether the evidence presented in the lower court consists of documentary evidence or of the testimony of witnesses, because it is just as necessary to include one class of evidence as the other in a bill of exceptions or statement of facts. This was held in appeal No. 81, from the Humacao court, of Octavio Ramírez and Josefa Carrasquillo v. Dolores Surillo and Caracoiolo Garrasquillo, decided by this Supreme Court on March 28th last (ante, p. 311), in which appeal the opinion of the court was delivered by Mr. Justice MacLeary, whose opinion was accepted by this court in its judgment.
The District Court of San Juan, in arriving at the conclusions it did, must have found from the evidence presented that the plaintiff had not proved each and every one of the facts which are necessary for the success of an action for recovery; that is to say, the ownership of the 39.858 cuerdas, the identification of said tract of land beyond question, and that said tract of land duly identified was wrongfully held by the defendant, Pedro de Elzaburu; and said court must also have found as the result of the evidence, tha’t the defendant Elzaburu had not proved facts sufficient to warrant the annulments which he sought in the cross-complaint embodied in his answer to the complaint, or that he was the successor in interest of the parties to the contract the annulment of which he seeks, and for these reasons dismissed the complaint and the cross-complaint.
We cannot disturb these findings because we lack in this appeal a bill of exceptions, a statement of facts or of the case, comprising the documents constituting the evidence in
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.