Martínez Rivera v. Sancho Bonet
Martínez Rivera v. Sancho Bonet
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellee, feeling’ aggrieved by our previous judgment rendered on the 14th of last July, {ante, p, 527) filed on the 10th of the following August a motion to reconsider in. which he tries to show that said judgment is erroneous. It.
It is true that, according to the Mortgage Law, within the summary foreclosure proceeding no other amounts than those •covered and secured by the mortgage may be collected. Art. 169 of the Mortgage Law Regulations; Santos v. Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, 41 P.R.R. 934; Martorell v. Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, 42 P.R.R. 632; Vázquez v. Gutiérrez, 52 P.R.R. 162. In other words, the summary foreclosure proceeding is only available for the collection of such sums as are secured by the mortgage notwithstanding that the mortgagee may hold other ordinary credits against the mortgagor.
The proceeding prescribed in the Political Code, on the contrary, is not restricted in its action -to the collection of the last four preceding annual instalments only, it being permissible within such proceeding to collect the amount of all. taxes lawfully due by the taxpayer. Such is the effect of section 335 of said code, as amended by the Act of March 1.4, 1907 (Session Laws, p. 362), which textually reads as follows:
“Sec. 335. If any person neglects or refuses to pay Ms or her taxes within the period prescribed in section 334 of this Title, the. collector or any other duly deputized agent of the Treasurer, shall,.after the written consent of the Treasurer shall have been obtained,. proceed to collect the same by the attachment and sale of the property of such debtor, in the manner hereinafter provided.” (Italics, ours.)
At the time of the purchase by appellee from Anzalota of' the property in question, taxes on the same were due to> the Treasury. Therefore, he bought it subject to a lien in-
As the appellee owes the taxes sought to be collected by the collector, and as there is no legal period of prescription for the collection of land taxes, the motion for rehearing must be denied.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.