Melchior v. Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico
Melchior v. Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
We are asked to reconsider our ruling herein dismissing the appeal taken by the plaintiff (36 P.RR. 82), and though this motion has been presented many months after its date, we will consider it in view of the concurring circumstances, since the appellant filed it immediately after the Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal taken therefrom.
It appears from the record that Central Bayaney of Arecibo created a first mortgage on some of its properties in favor of the Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico to secure the payment of $200,000, and subsequently created a second mortgage on the same properties to secure certain promissory notes made payable to the order of Melchior, Armstrong & Dessau amounting to $42,514:40.
■ The'Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico brought an ordinary action of debt in the district court of Arecibo and a judgment in its favor was executed by a forced sale of the mortgaged properties which were sold to the said bank as the only bidder at the sale for the sum of $125,000 plus the taxes due by the. defendant central, which sum did not cover the amount of the indebtedness. Later the bank sold the properties to Eduardo G-iorgetti who mortgaged them to secure part of the purchase price.
At this stage Melchior, Armstrong, Dessau Co. of Delaware, Inc., sued the Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico and Eduardo Giorgetti, alleging that the unpaicj. mortgage notes issued by the Central Bayaney in favor of Melchior, Armstrong & Dessau* Inc., had been indorsed to it and applied for a public sale of the mortgaged properties in satisfaction thereof.
On a demurrer by the defendants alleging defect of parties defendant the district court ordered that the plaintiff make the Central Bayaney a party defendant and the complaint was amended accordingly with the insertion of an allegation in which it was stated that the Central Bayaney was in
The legal situation created by the ruling on the demurrer was that the Central Bayaney became in such a proceeding a party defendant with the same rights and duties as any other party. Under these circumstances we think that the plaintiff should not have failed to notify the Central Bayaney when taking its appeal, as the said central was legally a party directly interested in the proceedings.
The appellant alleges that as it was prosecuting an action of debt secured by mortgage it can bring its action against the present owners of the mortgaged properties without having to bring in the Central Bayaney which originally created the mortgage under which payment is claimed, because the mortgage is a real right affecting' the mortgaged properties and follows them no matter who may be their owner. But as it appears from the record that the properties had been judicially sold in satisfaction of a mortgage prior to that of the plaintiff and that the price obtained at the sale did not cover the first mortgage, we are of the opinion that under such circumstances the Central Bayaney or its receiver has an interest herein and is an adverse party in this appeal, because as the plaintiff is trying to
From the foregoing the motion to reconsider and set aside our ruling dismissing the appeal is overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.