Rubert Bros. v. Unknown Heirs of Borda
Rubert Bros. v. Unknown Heirs of Borda
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal by the plaintiffs from a judgment in an action brought in 1925 to recover possession of a certain rural property and for damages.
The members of the agricultural partnership of Rubert Brothers brought this action against the unknown heirs of Wenceslao Borda. Several persons appeared as his sole heirs and demurred on the grounds of defect of parties defendant in that, though a necessarji party defendant, The People of Porto Rico had not been joined, and that the complaint did not adduce facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The court sustained both grounds of demurrer and granted leave to the plaintiffs to amend their complaint, but on motion of the plaintiffs the court rendered judgment dismissing the complaint.
It is alleged in the complaint that L. H. Graham, as Commissioner of the Interior of Porto Rico and in representation of The People of Porto Rico, leased to Wenceslao Borda the following property: “All of the undrained and uncultivated marsh of a parcel of land belonging to The People of Porto Rico situated in the districts of Arecibo and Manatí known by the general name of ‘Caño o Laguna de los Tiburones’
The court below based its ruling sustaining the demurrer to the complaint on the ground of defect of parties defendant on the fact that the essential allegations of this action and those in another action of Hubert Brothers against The People of Porto Rico and Wenceslao Borda, decided on June 27, 1913, and reported in 19 P.R.R. 873, are substantially the same and therefore The People of Porto Rico is a necessary party to the action, as held in that case. Citing then the case of Fernández v. People, 16 P.R.R. 545, and sections 462 and 1869 of the Civil Code, it sustained the demurrer to the complaint by the defendants.
The errors assigned in support of this appeal are as follows :
“First. — The court erred in holding that The People of Porto Rico is a necessary and indispensable party to this action and should be made a party therein.
“Second. — The court erred in holding that the essential facts pleaded in the action of Rubert Brothers against The People of Porto Rico and others, reported in 19 P.R.R. 873, are the same as those alleged here.
*323 “ Third. — The court erred in sustaining the demurrer of the defendants.
“Fourth. — The court erred in rendering judgment dismissing the complaint. ’ ’
There is no reference in the allegations of the complaint to the case mentioned, hut as the lower court and the parties referred to it, we do likewise.
In their argument on the errors the appellants limit themselves to the first one, saying in regard to the others that there is no possible room for argument as to the second because a mere comparison of the allegations of the two complaints is sufficient to reach the conclusion that the fundamental facts alleged in the case cited and in the present case, and the third and fourth assignments, are a consequence of the first assignment and are submitted. However, the first two assignments of error are so intimately related that in spite of the statement of the appellants just transcribed as to the second, third and fourth assignments of this appeal, they mix the second in their argument on the first, as they compare the allegations in the two complaints to reach the conclusion that it is beyond their comprehension how the court below could have found the complaints to be essentially the same in order to hold that The People of Porto Rico is a necessary party to this action. It is said by the appellants that in the former action Rubert Brothers claimed from The People of Porto Rico and from Wenceslao Borda the same parcel of land that is claimed in the present one, alleging that The People of Porto Rico had built a fence on the- Las Lizas plantation belonging to Rubert Brothers whom it dispossessed of a part of their property and delivered it to Borda, while in the present action it is alleged that Borda received from The People of Porto Rico the property leased to him and whose ownership title in The People of Porto Rico is not questioned, but that when Borda took possession of the leased property he invaded the property of the plain
That does not result from the complaints, for it was alleged in that of the former action that in December, 1908, The People of Porto Bico by the then Commissioner of the Interior and other persons and with the cooperation of Wenceslao Borda built or caused to be built a fence on the Las Lizas property-of the plaintiffs, dividing it into two parts and delivering the northern part of it to Wenceslao Borda; and in the complaint in the present action it is alleged that The People of Porto Rico leased a property belonging to it to Wenceslao Borda, and it is said that Borda, accompanied by his agents, by the then Commissioner of the Interior and by his agents, entered the property of the plaintiffs and took possession of a part of it. So that in one complaint it is said that Borda and the Commissioner of the Interior entered the propertjr and took possession of a part of it and in the other it is alleged that they took possession of a part of the property of the plaintiffs, the only difference being that in the former action it is said that the portion occupied as aforesaid was delivered by The People of Porto Rico to Borda and in the present one it is not said what Borda and the Commissioner of the Interior did with the portion thus occupied, nor is it alleged that it is in the possession of the defendants. Prom the foregoing and taking into account also that in a complaint ag’ainst the heirs of Borda for unlawful possession of the land in question it was unnecessary to set up the lease made by The People of Porto Rico to Borda or the Joint Resolution authorizing the extension of the lease, we reach the conclusion that the two complaints are fundamentally the same and since it is alleged that Borda and The People of Porto Rico took possession of the portion of the property sued for, The People of Porto Rico should be made a party to this action after securing its consent to be sued.
The judgment appealed from must be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.