Rivera Michel v. Registrar of Property of Caguas
Rivera Michel v. Registrar of Property of Caguas
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
In a motion for the cancellation of a mortgage, the mortgagor, Juan Rivera Michel, set forth that on February 9, 1925, the mortgagee, Manuel Garrido Farizo, assigned the mortgage to José Garrido Farizo; that José Garrido Farizo died intestate in July, 1927, and that no judicial declaration of heirship had been made; that in an action for damages
On August 29, '1928, the district court directed that the deposit be paid to Félix Baerga as the owner of the mortgage, and ordered the cancellation of the mortgage and of the record entry in the registry of property.
On May 17, 1929, a notice of Us pendens was entered in the registry of property, showing that on May 1, María Puig Torres, Antonio Garrido and Vicenta Farizo had commenced an action for the annulment of judicial proceedings and for damages against Isabel Polanco Santiago, Antonio L. López, Félix Baerga, Juan Delfaus and Jacinto Polanco, wherein plaintiffs prayed that the public sale and award of the mortgage in question to Félix Baerga be adjudged null and void; that the defendant Baerga and the other defendants, be compelled to pay plaintiffs $10,000 as damages together with costs, disbursements and attorneys’ fees; also that a compromise effected in a certain suit between a judicial administrator (Jesus Rivera) and Isabel Polanco Santiago be held null and void, and that the judgment rendered against the widow and heirs of José Garrido Farizo be adjudged without force and effect.
On September 23, 1929, a registrar of property declined to carry out the order of the district court directing the cancellation of the record entries, upon the ground that the mortgage in question was subject to the notice of lis pendens.
The judicial sale, the award to Félix Baerga, the conveyance to him, the deposit by Juan Rivera Michel of the
The mortgage was extinguished by payment. The uncanceled record thereof in the registry of property could not keep it alive. The subsequent filing of a notice of Us pendens could not revive it. The entry of such a notice in the registry of property does not operate retroactively and is not an obstacle to the carrying out of a previous order for the cancellation upon the record of a mortgage already extinguished.
The ruling appealed from must be reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.