Igaravídez v. Casiano
Igaravídez v. Casiano
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
On December 7, 1936, Enrique Igaravídez began an ordinary suit to foreclose a mortgage against Luisa Casiano and her husband, Luis Jiménez. A demurrer for insufficient facts to state a cause of action was submitted without argument, by the defendants, and overruled. Subsequently a general
On May 28, 1937, we refused to dismiss the appeal as frivolous. We have now before us a second motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground that it is frivolous and has been prosecuted for the sole purpose of delaying the course of justice.
At this time the record on appeal is complete, and both parties have filed their briefs on the merits. The only error assigned by the defendants attacks the court’s denial of the motion to suspend or postpone the trial of the case. Appellee maintains that the record amply discloses the, weakness of the defendants’ motion to suspend, which was not upheld by any affidavit of merits or allegation of a specific and meritorious defense.
In considering this motion to dismiss we have carefully studied each and every paper filed by the parties in this proceeding. Only one factor militates in favor of the appellants her'ein, and that is the fact they were not actually represented by counsel when this case came on to be heard in the trial court. Assuming that this state of affairs resulted from the lower court’s refusal to postpone the ease, did this refusal constitute an abuse of the judge’s discretion? In order to answer this question we must consider all the accompanying circumstances.
The only defense put up by the defendants in their answer to the complaint, was a general denial. Under such a plea a judge is more than justified in supposing that the defend
Nowhere in the record is there any writing which even resembles an affidavit of merits. Appellants say that they have a defense of partial payment, but this averment is not made under oath, and was not specifically presented to the lower court.
Under all the circumstances of this case, and especially in view of the fact that appellants have not convinced us that they have a meritorious case on appeal, or that they have any defense to the main action, entitling them to another chance before the court of first instance, we are of the opinion that the appeal should b'e dismissed as frivolous.
It is so ordered.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.