Porto Rico Coal Co. v. Sobrinos de Ezquiaga
Porto Rico Coal Co. v. Sobrinos de Ezquiaga
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Defendant acquired a certain property subject to a pre-
Plaintiff thereupon brought suit to establish the existence of and restrain encroachment upon a servitude assumed apparently to be in substance the same as that recorded in the registry, but described as having been modified in regard to the location thereof upon the ground by virtue of a subsequent understanding or agreement between the parties to the original contract.
A demurrer for want of facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action was sustained by the court below and plaintiff appeals from a-judgment of dismissal.
The averments pertinent to the question before us are as follows:
“Fifth: That by deed No. 223 dated December 3, 1912, José D. Riera y Cifuentes, Wenceslao Bosch y Puig and Luis Sánchez Morales, former owners of the property now belonging to the plaintiff, executed a contract of segregation, sale and mortgage of real property and creation of a servitude by virtue of which contract the former sold to the partnership, of Carlos Cid & Company the property described in the fourth count of this complaint which they segregated from the property described in the third count of the same complaint and at the same time created respective servitudes in favor of both properties, the said servitudes having been recorded respectively in favor of both properties in the registry of property at folios 233 and 190 of volumes 5th and 6th of Puerta de Tierra.
“Sixth: That the servitude created by the said deed upon the property of the defendant and in favor of the property belonging to the plaintiff was made to appear in the said deed and in the registry of property as follows:
“ ‘Carlos Cid y Gallego, in his capacity of manager of the partnership of Carlos Cid & Company, created a predial, positive and discontinuous servitude upon the property of one thousand and seven hundred meters described in the first paragraph of this contract.
“ ‘The said servitude shall consist in the construction on the servient tenement of a branch track connecting this with the main track of the American Railroad Company of Porto Rico to be used*561 by both properties and to extend along the entire eastern boundary of the servient tenement and end at the southeastern boundary of the said property.
"The parties agree that the servitudes created in the two foregoing stipulations shall have the character of perpetual servitudes in consideration of the mutual benefit resulting therefrom by reason of their creation.’
"Seventh: That the servitude created as aforesaid was modified by the same parties who created it in this, that the branch track which according to the deed should run along the eastern boundary of the servient tenement and terminate at the southeastern boundary shall be located some meters towards the west and with that end in view there was placed on the main line of the American Railroad Company, which runs from east to west, a switch commonly known as a 'frog’ which in its location marked the point of departure of the track constituting the modified servitude and in its curvature the direction and radius of the arc to be described for the purpose of entering the dominant tenement and approaching the eastern boundary of San Andrés Street or near the said street.
"Eighth: That notwithstanding the aforesaid, servitude thus modified and without the consent and contrary to the expressed wishes of the former owners of the dominant tenement the defendant,, represented by José D. Riera, constructed buildings such as a metal tank and a cement round house on the servient tenement, thus obstructing the passage and making useless the said servitude or preventing the exercise and enjoyment of the plaintiffs and therefore encroaching upon the place which was expressly reserved for the servitude modified as aforesaid.
"Ninth: That the former owners of the dominant tenement, by their representatives, admonished the defendant not to construct or continue to construpt the said buildings nor in any way to interfere with their servitudes now belonging to the plaintiff corporation and created upon the property of the defendant, and also to leave free and clear the passage through the servient tenement for the exercise of the modified servitude on the place and in the manner agreed on, the said defendant having refused and continued the works undertaken which are now practically finished.”
Neither obstruction nor interference with the full enjoyment of the easement as originally created, 'nor record of
The judgment appealed from must be
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.