Frese v. Public Service Commission
Frese v. Public Service Commission
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Public Service Commission appeals from an adverse judgment rendered by the district court on an appeal from a decision by the Commission. From a statement prepared by the district judge and adopted by appellant in its brief, we gather:
F. A. C. Hastrup was the owner of a suburban residence in the municipality of Guaynabo. He had a verbal contract with the municipality for a water supply at $8 a month. By deed executed April 24, 1930, Hastrup donated the property to his daughter, Evelyn Anita Hastrup. The deed provided that whenever the donee was absent from the island during the lifetime of the donor he would be administrator of the property. Hastrup continued to live in the house and to pay for the water as he had done before the deed of donation. At the end of the year 1934 he ceased to pay. Later, the municipality refused to furnish water to John Frese, the lessee of Evelyn Hastrup, unless an indebtedness amounting to $158.33 for water already furnished was first paid. Frese appeared before the Public Service Commission
From the evidence adduced before the Commission it appeared that Hastrup had lived in the house during the time he failed to pay for the water. During that time his daughter Evelyn was a permanent resident of the city of New York. It did not appear from the evidence that Hastrup had entered into any new contract with the municipality. He had continued to use and pay for the water as he had done prior to the date of the donation. The Commission had decided that since it appeared from the deed of donation that Hastrup was to continue as administrator of the property, the donee was liable and that the municipality was entitled to apply the certificate of deposit to the payment of the debt. Frese had appealed on the ground that Hastrup himself, not his daughter, should pay for the water.
On the present appeal the first assignment is that the district court erred in finding that the evidence before the Commission did not disclose any contractual nexus between the daughter and the municipality.
Appellant cites: 2 C. J. S. 1045, sec. 23; Griffith v. Alcocke, 37 So. 47; Beach v. Huntsman, 83 N. E. 1033; Dodd v. Atlanta, 28 A.L.R. 465, and note 472, 475 and 486; Smith v. Scranton Gas & Water Co. (1899) 5 Lack. Legal News (Pa.) 235; Suau v. Capital of P. R., 50 P.R.R. 733.
A reading of the opinion in Beach v. Huntsman, will suffice to distinguish that case. We do not have access to the case of Smith v. Scranton Gas & Water Co. Appellant relies on the description contained in a note to Dodd v. Atlanta, supra, at page 480. In the circumstances of the
The instrument of donation is not before us. From another instrument, executed by Hastrup December 31, 1936, it appears that, in the instrument of donation, Hastrup not only stipulated that during his lifetime whenever his daughter was absent from the island he should administer the property, but also stipulated that during his lifetime and during the lifetime of his wife, the daughter should provide a room for each of them. By the terms of the instrument of donation, the property could not be alienated, sold or encumbered by the daughter without the express constant of her parents or of the surviving parent in the event of the death of either. Manifestly, the donor, at the time of the donation, did not contemplate any change of residence unless and until it should suit his own convenience. As long as the daughter remained on the island, the donor had no duties to perform as administrator. After the daughter departed from the island, his duties as administrator were not onerous. There is nothing to show that he ever rendered any accounts, ever charged anything to his daughter, ever kept any account of his acts as administrator or ever performed any act as administrator. The daughter, as owner of the legal title, had certain rights, of course, which she might have exercised but did not exercise until her uncle, John Frese, became her lessee, and agent and attorney-in-fact. From April 24, 1930, to June 1, 1936, the transaction between Hastrup and his daughter seems to have been “all in the family” and Hastrup was the head of the family. In the instrument of December 31, 1936, whereby Hastrup renounced, sold and assigned to his daughter all the rights reserved by him at the time of the donation, he explained and stipulated that he was not liable for any of the current expenses of maintenance from and after June 1, 1936.
Hastrup’s contract with the municipality was, as pointed out by the district judge, purely personal. The municipality
The district judge did not err as claimed in the first assignment.
The second assignment is that the district court erred in its application of the principle involved in Suau Carbonell v. The Capital, 50 P.R R. 733, to the facts in this case.
The district judge said that there was nothing in the evidence before the Commission to show any contractual nexus between Evelyn Anita Hastrup and the municipality of-Gnaynabo, unless it were the clause contained in the instrument of April 24, 1930, making Hastrup an administrator of the property. He then held that the daughter was under no obligation by virtue of that clause to pay the debt of her father, especially in view of the fact that the municipality had no lien on the property. He cited Suau Carbonell v. The Capital. He was under the impression that the father’s contract with the municipality had preceded the donation. The Suau case speaks for itself. It would be unfair to the district
The third assignment is that the district court erred in rendering the judgment appealed from and in not affirming the decision of the Public Service Commission. It is equally without merit.
The judgment appealed from must he affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.