González-Bermúdez v. Díaz
González-Bermúdez v. Díaz
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
José Antonio González Rivera mortgaged in 1893 a property of 170 acres to Tomás Aquino González Hernández to secure a debt, and upon his death in the same year a partition of his estate was made by his widow and by a guardian appointed by the court of first instance to represent his minor children. By this partition, which was approved by the court and recorded in the registry of property, the widow was awarded the 170 acres in consideration of her dowry, of her portion of the acquets and for the payment of the debts of the estate. In 1896 the widow segregated 112 acres from the 170 acres to pay the mortgage debt to Tomás Aquino González. One hundred acres were segregated out of the 112 acres by Tomás Aquino González for the payment of a debt of his, which he subsequently bought bade and owned at the time of his death, it being allotted in joint ownership to his eight natural children. Three of these children sold their jointly owned portions to Ramón Díaz Román.
The defendants answered the complaint, giving a history of the property in question and alleging that the 100 acres had been publicly sold by The People of Porto Rico on December 5, 1922, for the payment of tastes, together with another property of 51.37 acres, and that both had been sold to Alberto Sureda who subsequently sold five-eighths thereof in joint ownership to Ramón Reboyras.
The case was tried and a judgment was rendered sustaining the complaint and ordering the defendants to acknowledge each of the plaintiffs as a joint owner of an eighth of the 100 acres, with costs. This judgment was appealed from by the defendants and by the plaintiffs on the ground that they had not been awarded the fruits of the property.
At the trial it was shown by documentary evidence that the 100 acres property jointly belonging to five of the heirs of Tomás Aquino González and to Ramón Díaz Román in the proportion of five-eighths to the former and three-eighths to the latter had been publicly sold, together with another property of 51.37 acres of that estate, for a certain sum for the payment of taxes on December 5, 1922, to Alberto Sureda who received from the revenue collector a certificate of the sale on January 30,1923; that a year afterwards on February 14, 1924, Sureda sold his five jointly owned portions in the 100 acres to Ramón Reboyras and consequently, as the
Plaintiffs also appealed from the judgment because they were not adjudged the fruits as prayed for. Though they have not filed any brief in support thereof, it is unnecessary in view of the conclusion which we have reached on defendants'’ appeal.
For the foregoing reasons the appeal of plaintiffs must be dismissed and that of defendants sustained, reversing the judgment appealed from and dismissing the complaint without special pronouncement of costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.