Rodríguez v. Porto Rico Dairy, Inc.
Rodríguez v. Porto Rico Dairy, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
F. A. Powers, in his capacity as manager of The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., executed twenty promissory notes for $212.50 each payable to the order of the plaintiff, Pedro F. Rodriguez. Said promissory notes originated in a sale of three Day Elder trucks, suitable for the transportation of milk, which, together with their respective licenses and insurance policies, were delivered to the defendant, in whose possession they were at the time of the trial of this case before the lower court. There is no doubt as to the authenticity and execution of these promissory notes which were made a part of the complaint, since the answer was not verified in accordance with section 119 of the Code of Civil Procedure. ;
The defendant in its answer sets up that on May 13, 1932, a so-called board of directors appointed F. A. Powers as manager of the corporation, without the said board having any authority to make such an appointment nor to authorize the manager to sign any instruments in the name of The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc.; that said board of directors was not elected in the manner- prescribed by the Corporation Law and provided in the charter and by-laws of the company; that the appointment of each and every one of its members has been impugned and the .said board lacks authority to represent and. bind the defendant; and that the
The enforceability of the contracted obligations has been satisfactorily proved.
On July 6, 1932, Dolores McCormick brought suit against The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., and against Granaderos Unidos, Inc., on certain shares of stock and for the appointment of a judicial administrator. In that case, by an order of the District Court of San Juan dated December 15, 1932, and on the ground that said corporation, The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., was in danger of becoming insolvent in consequence of business losses and bad management, a receiver was appointed to take charge of the corporate property and manage the same during the pendency of the suit.
The evidence offered shows that the plaintiff herein sold three motor trucks to the defendant for $4,250, and it was agreed that said sum would be paid at the rate of $212.50 weekly. In accordance with this agreement, the defendant executed, through its manager F. A. Powers, twenty promissory notes for $212.50 each. The plaintiff testified, and his testimony does not appear to have been contradicted, that he negotiated the deal with the full board of directors; that the defendant corporation called a night meeting for the purpose of doing the. business with him and that twelve of the notes executed in his favor by the defendant have already been paid. The contract was entered into at the time Jesús Pinero was president of the corporation. Ricardo La Costa testified that he was president of the defendant corporation and knew of the notes executed in favor of the plaintiff, of which twelve had been paid and eight were still outstanding; that in view of this, he decided to pay to Rodriguez, but as there were at that time so many obligations similarly outstanding, and so many attachments and suits, every creditor could not be paid upon maturity of the respective obliga
Prom the opinion of the lower court we transcribe the following:
“. . . There are no minutes of the meetings held by The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., during the period from April 25, 1932, to June 22, 1932, wherein there should appear the appointment of F. A. Powers*919 as manager and tbe authorization for the purchase of, the motor vehicles involved in this suit. However, from a deed of rescission of several contracts and for other purposes, executed on May 14, 1932, by Pedro F. Rodríguez and Jesús T. Piñero, the latter as president of Ganaderos Unidos, Inc., it appears that this corporation received for the benefit of The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., the motor vehicles, and it was recited that there were executed and delivered to Pedro F. Rodriguez twenty promissory notes for $212.50 each, dated May- 13, 1932, and payable to his order, the first on May 21, 1932, and the remaining ones weekly thereafter for twenty successive weeks until the full amount was paid. In the charter The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., provided for the appointment of a manager by the board of directors. Ganaderos Unidos, Inc., controlled The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., as appears from the complaint in said case No. 17004, and the board of directors of both companies were composed of the same persons, and Jesús T. Piñero was then president of both corporations. The notes were signed by F. A. Powers, as manager of The Porto Rico Dairy, Inc., and numbered from 1 to 20, inclusive, and were delivered to Pedro F. Rodriguez, the last note to mature on October 1, 1932. The defendant corporation punctually paid the first twelve notes but defaulted on the remaining ones; and recovery is sought herein on numbers 14 to 20, inclusive, but not on number 13, as the latter has been made the subject of a separate action, it having been lost. In the report of the referees, Messrs. López del Yalle and Arturo E. Bravo, dated December 21,. 1932, at page 18 and under the heading ‘Bills Payable,’ the debt owed to Pedro F. Rodriguez appears, eight unpaid promissory notes- for $212.50 each, totalling $1,700; and in the same report, at page 16, the Day Elder trucks purchased by the defendant are described, under licenses Nos. H-178, H — 180, and C-512. This report was prepared in accordance with the entries in the books of the corporation.”
We have carefully studied all tbe evidence, both oral and documentary, introduced in this case, and we have arrived at the same conclusions reached by the lower court. The defense that the manager of the defendant corporation had no authority to bind it in the transaction that culminated in the purchase of the trucks, can not prevail. The plaintiff testified, and his testimony is uncontradicted, that he contracted directly with the board of directors of the defendant
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.