Juncos Central Co. v. Del Toro
Juncos Central Co. v. Del Toro
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The defendant having refused to receive from the plaintiff the sum of $60 which the plaintiff owed to him because it had been retained by mistake, the plaintiff deposited it
The defendant appealed and among the errors assigned alleges that the district court was without jurisdiction because of the amount involved.
This court has held repeatedly that when the amount in litigation does not exceed $500 the municipal courts have jurisdiction, this being-our interpretation of section 4 of the Act reorganizing the judiciary of Porto Bico of 1904, which prescribes that a municipal judge created thereby “ shall have jurisdiction in all civil matters in his district to the amount of five hundred dollars, including interest.” See the cases of González v. Pirazzi, 16 P. R. R. 7; Lamas & Méndez v. Betancourt, 16 P. R. R. 265; Bazán v. Stevens & Co., 16 P. R. R. 668, cited by the appellant, and that of Lowande v. García, 13 P. R. R. 263, in which the question was fully considered.
The appellee contends that a case of a deposit is special. The law does not confer upon a particular court special jurisdiction of cases of deposit, and where the law makes no distinction this court does not. A deposit is a manner of tendering pajunent. If the .defendant had been compelled to sue the plaintiff for the said sum of $60, he would have had to do so in a municipal court. That being the case, it is necessary and logical to apply the same rule to the plaintiff.
The' appellee cites the case of Martínez v. Santiago, 10 P. R. R. 245, as showing that this court took jurisdiction of a deposit proceeding on appeal from a district court when the amount was $300. It is true that the deposit in that case, which was made after judgment had been rendered, amounted to that sum, but the amount in litigation exceeded $500.
Furthermore, if we were to consider the merits of the case, we should have to reAmrse the judgment appealed from.
The order appealed from must be
Reversed and substituted.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.