Barbosa v. District Court of Bayamón
Barbosa v. District Court of Bayamón
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Yictorio Santiago brought an action in the Municipal Court of Toa Alta against Modesto Barbosa for the recovery of $90.48. He attached a house and lot and a cow and calf, the property of defendant. The cow and calf were left in the possession of Barbosa as depositary. On June 18, 1929, Santiago obtained judgment and Barbosa appealed. On February 3, 1930, Santiago obtained a judgment in the district court. On February 19, 1930, Barbosa claimed his statutory exemption and moved for stay of execution. On the day following, Santiago applied for a writ of execution. On April 11th the municipal judge overruled the motion because of the failure of Barbosa to appear on the day set for a hearing and establish his claim to exemption. On April 29th, the secretary of the municipal court sent by mail to the attorneys copies of the court’s ruling and issued a writ of execution. June 2d was fixed and advertised by the marshal as the day of sale. On May 27th Barbosa again claimed his exemption as to the cow1 and calf and moved to quash the writ of execution. In the same municipal court,
The ruling of the municipal court on the motion of February 19, 1930, to stay the execution did not purport to pass on the merits of Barbosa’s claim to exemption as to the cow and calf, and was not res judicata. It was not pretended at that time nor at any time thereafter, that Barbosa was concealing other assets or that he had any other livestock. Even if it had been shown that he had other cows and calves, the motion itself would have been sufficient evidence of selection. The attachment of Barbosa’s only cow and calf created no lien, and the motion for a stay of execution should not have been denied. The overruling thereof, because of his failure to appear at the hearing, was not a bar to the presentation of the subsequent motion of May 27th to quash the writ of execution. That motion was pending and undecided
The judgment of dismissal entered by the court in the third party proceeding brought by Barbosa as to the cow and calf must be reversed, and the attachment levied on the livestock by the Rosita Agricultural Company will be dissolved.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.