Valdés Yera v. Pizá & Martínez, Inc.
Valdés Yera v. Pizá & Martínez, Inc.
070rehearing
OIST MOTION POR REHEARING-
March 30, 1937.
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiff in this case requests the reconsideration of our judgment on the ground that the trustee appointed by the Federal Court seized the property of Ramos Hnos. & Co., six months after said property had been attached by the defendant Pizá & Martínez, Inc. The plaintiff seems to lay great emphasis on the date on which the bankruptcy court seized the property, disregarding the date on which the petition in bankruptcy was filed. We have not decided, because we consider it unnecessary, whether the plaintiff would have been entitled to the cancellation sought if the property had been attached more than four months before the filing of the petition in bankruptcy. We have said that from the record does not appear the date on which that petition
The reconsideration sought must be. denied.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Ramón Ramos Rivera and his wife, plaintiff María Yaldés Yera, entered into a contract with Pizá & Martínez, Inc., to open a charge account secured by a mortgage. In a deed executed for that purpose, the said spouses declared that they were the owners of a rural property measuring* one-half acre (cuerda) which they had purchased from Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs., on October 27, 1928. They further stated that they were doing business under the name of Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs.; that Pizá & Martínez agreed to grant them credit to the extent of $2,000, against which they would draw from time to time, for the purchase of wares and merchandise; that the credit was to be opened for one year and it was to mature in August 1931, and the debtors agreed to pay on maturity the entire amount owing in the latter’s books as an open account; that to secure the payment up to $2,000, or any part thereof found to be owing in said open account by the Ramos-Valdés spouses either personally or doing business under the name of Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs., Ramón Ramos Rivera, with the consent of his wife María Yaldés Yera, who appeared as a party to the deed, executed a mortgage in favor of the mercantile firm Pizá & Martínez, Inc., on the aforesaid realty and other property.
The open account appears to have been liquidated on October 20, 1931, and Ramón Ramos stated, on behalf of Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs., the following:
- “In mv capacity as sole manager and owner, together with my wife, of all the assets of the firm Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs., which is located at Dr. Yeve Street in the town of Bayamón,' I declare that*138 the foregoing liquidation of the account of said funds with Messrs. Pizá & Martínez, Inc., of San Juan, is correct and shows a balance in favor of the said Messrs. Pizá & Martínez, Inc., of one thousand two hundred and four dollars and eighty-nine cents, as per a liquidation made by mutual agreement on this date.”
Subsequently, Pizá & Martínez, Inc., brought suit against liamos Hnos. & Co., Suecrs., to recover the amount thus liquidated. In order to secure the effectiveness of any judgment that might be rendered, the plaintiff firm attached the stock of the two stores belonging to the defendant, which was awarded to Pizá & Martínez, Inc., in execution of the judgment, for the sum of $1,300.'
Later on, Ramos Hnos. & Co., Suecrs., went into voluntary bankruptcy, and the Federal Court ordered the stay of all the proceedings taken by Pizá & Martínez, Inc., in the District Court of Bayamón against the said company. The district court issued a writ in accordance -with the order of the Federal Court. It does not appear from the record that the petition in bankruptcy was filed in that court. The referee in bankruptcy stated that he had examined the property of the bankrupt and it appeared that the same had been sold within the four months preceding the filing of the petition in bankruptcy by virtue of the attachment, and issued a writ ordering Messrs. Pizá & Martínez, Inc., to show cause why the goods attached and sold should not be delivered to Francisco Font Manzano, trustee in bankruptcy appointed by the referee in bankruptcy, Jesús A. González, Esq. Pizá & Martínez, Inc., agreed to deliver the goods, and the said trustee Font Manzano took possession of them.
The plaintiff requested the cancellation of the said mortgage on the grounds that the said realty belonged to her separate estate, and that the mortgage obligation had been novated and paid. The lower court rendered judgment dismissing the complaint on the merits.
The first error assigned is that the judgment should have been rendered, but was not rendered, against the party
Under those circumstances, it is impossible to arrive at the conclusion that the indebtedness has been satisfied.
The appellant argues that when Pizá & Martínez, Inc., abandoned the mortgage security which amounted to a lien on her property and recovered by other means the amount due on the stated account with Ramón Ramos, the security forthwith became extinguished, and was waived for a new contract which was expressly relied upon before the court in an action of debt brought against the company, Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs.
The plaintiff introduced evidence to show that the mortgaged propert}7- belongs to her separate estate. However, it ivas stated by her when she executed the mortgage on said
It is clear that the plaintiff can not go against her acts, denying that the property was conjugal property and that she was a member of the firm of Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs., if those facts induced the defendant to grant a credit and to part with the goods which were purchased by the said firm by virtue of said credit; but even if the evidence introduced failed to show, which it did not, the part played by the plaintiff in the business transactions of Ramos Hnos. & Co., Succrs., and even if the rural property should turn out 1o be part of her sepai'ate estate, these facts can not affect the mortgage security executed by the plaintiff herself and her husband in favor of Pizá & Martínez, Inc.
Regarding the claim that the defendant abandoned the security upon bringing an action of debt, we have held that the recovery of a mortgage credit can be prosecuted under the summary process authorized by the Mortgage Law and its Regulations, or by an ordinary action subject to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, and that the creditor may elect either of these proceedings, in his discretion. The
The mortgage security is not considered to have been extinguished and waived merely because the creditor has proceeded to enforce the obligation through an ordinary action for money had and received instead of taking advantage of the summary proceeding of the Mortgage Law. Fossas v. National City Bank, 50 P.R.R. 312.
Lastly, it is urged by the appellant that the lower court erred in finding for the defendant because the novation of the contract had not been proved. It is argued that the liquidation of the account was accepted by Ramos without the consent of his wife, and it is emphatically asserted that the liquidation amounts to a novation of the obligatipn. Let us see what is the basis of the appellant’s conclusion. In the mortgage deed executed on August 7, 1930, the Ramos-Valdés spouses stated the following:
“This credit is opened for the term of one year, counted from this date, which will therefore mature on the same day and month of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, and upon maturity thereof the Ramos Valdés spouses agree and bind themselves to pay to the mercantile firm ‘Pizá & Martínez, Inc.,’ the amounls found to be owing by virtue of this contract; and it is expressly agreed that said term of one year can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties to this document, and the extension or extensions of time agreed upon shall be considered as an integral part of this document, subject to all the conditions and stipulations herein set forth.”
The liquidation of the open account appears to have been made on October 20, 1931, that is, over two months after the maturity of the term for which the credit was granted to the aforesaid spouses. Prom this fact the appellant infers that a new obligation was executed and that the security was extended. It is clear to us that if the goods were purchased during the year for which the credit was opened, the fact that the liquidation was practiced in fact two months
The judgment appealed from must be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.