Figueroa v. Bonilla
Figueroa v. Bonilla
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Primitivo Bonilla suffered an accident while working as .an employee of Eladio Mitchell, against whom he brought an action for damages. In order to secure the effectiveness of the judgment Bonilla attached a merry-go-round and a fer-ris wheel as property of the defendant. After the attachment had been levied, Pedro Figueroa filed an intervention proceeding alleging that he was the sole owner of the said property. Bonilla answered that Eladio Mitchell had conspired with Figueroa to transfer the property to him, and that there was no effective transfer or any consideration. The issue thus joined, the case went to trial. The lower ■court held that the property attached by Primitivo Bonilla was, on the date of the attachment, owned by the intervenor Pedro Figueroa, who acquired it on August 23, 1933, that is, three days before the accident to Bonilla, as appears from the deed of sale and lease of- personal property, executed in Ponce before notary Rafael Muñoz.
The defendant in the intervention proceedings, Primitivo Bonilla appealed from this judgment, alleging that the lower court Qommitted grave and manifest error in weighing the evidence, and in holding that the intervenor had proved his title to the personal property attached by Bonilla. The appellant contends that judgment should have been rendered dismissing the complaint in intervention, with costs to the defendant.
The only question to decide in this case is whether or not there was sufficient evidence to destroy the alleged title of the intervenor. There was offered in evidence the deed in which Eulalio and Ramón Mitchell purport to trans
In his answer Pedro Bonilla does not attack the execution of the public deed which appears authorized by notary Rafael Muñoz on August 23, 1933. The defendant does not question the date of the document, but merely says that the said transfer is a simulation between the supposed contracting parties, in which there was no consideration. He adds-that the intervenor was insolvent, and had no assets or property of any kind at the time of the simulated transfer.
Now then, the simulation or conspiracy to defraud Pri-mitivo Bonilla cannot exist if the deed of transfer was actually executed on August 23, 1933, because on that date-the said defendant had no right of action against the vendor Eulalio Mitchell. This date, as we have already said, has-not been challenged. We must, therefore, completely discard, the intent to defraud and limit ourselves to the consideration of the question of the absence of consideration in the execution of the contract.
In addition to the deed, the intervenor offered his own testimony to prove title to the property attached. He testifies that on the date on which the attachment was levied, this property was his exclusively; that he acquired, it by-purchase from Eladio Mitchell, by public deed, having previously paid the sum of $1,000; that the property consisted of a ferris wheel and a merry-go-round; that the' sale was
The evidence of the defendant tends to show that Eladio Mitchell was the owner of the property. There is no doubt whatever that he was such exclusively or -with his brother, before the accident occurred. The question to decide, however, is whether or not Mitchell, on the date of the accident, had relinquished his property rights' in the said property. The defendant alleges a lack of consideration in the contract made. The lower court, considering the evidence insufficient to show this, decided for the plaintiff and upheld the rights of the intervenor to the property attached. Although we can understand the attitude of the defendant in relation to the circumstances present in this case, we do not feel that we are authorized to reverse the judgment appealed from, in view of the questions raised, the evidence presented and the form in which the issue was joined.
The judgment appealed from must be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.