Maldonado v. Rodríguez
Maldonado v. Rodríguez
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
In the amended complaint filed before the Municipal Court of Areeibo, the plaintiffs alleged that they were owners of a piece of land situated in the Ward Río Arriba of Areeibo, and that upon said land there is a wooden house which belongs to the defendant that is worth $200, and which occupies part
The defendant in his answer denied the essential facts of the complaint and especially that the house belonged solely to him, and as a defense alleged that the house was worth more than $700 and was situated on a farm of three cuer-das which does not belong to the plaintiffs but to the Succession of Domeña.
After the proper trial, the municipal court gave judgment for the plaintiffs and appraised the house at $225. The case having been appealed to the district court, the trial was held de novo and again the court found for the plaintiffs but the house was appraised at $400, which amount the plaintiffs were ordered to deposit in court at the disposal of the defendants, and he was ordered to move from the house. From this judgment both parties have appealed, and the appeals have been prosecuted jointly.
The only error assigned by the plaintiffs in their appeal charges that the lower court appraised the house at the excessive sum of $400, having been moved by bias, prejudice and partiality, or manifest error in weighing the evi-
Let us examine the other errors assigned by the defendant. The first one consists in that the lower court did not hold that the complaint does not contain facts sufficient to state a cause of action. Although no demurrer was raised on that point, as appears from the record, the amended complaint contains the averments necessary to the action exercised by the plaintiffs. Section 297 of the Civil Code provides:
“Section 297. — The owner of the land which has been built upon, sown, or planted in good faith, has the right to appropriate as his own, the work, sowing or planting, by previously paying the indemnity specified in section 382 and 383 of this Code, and to oblige the person who has built or planted to pay him the value of the land, and the person who sowed, to pay the corresponding rent.”
The defendant appellant maintains that it is not alleged that he constructed in good or bad faith and that the proper indemnity was not offered to him in payment. The good faith is always presumed and therefore there was no need to allege it specifically, and as to the indemnity, the plaintiffs requested in their complaint that the court order them to pay the indemnity provided by Section 297, supm, and
The second assignment states that the court acted without jurisdiction because it was proven that the house was worth more than $700 and that therefore the municipal court had no original jurisdiction in the case and neither did the district court on appeal. We have already held that the lower court did not commit error in appraising the value of the house at $400, and therefore, this error does not exist either.
The third assignment charges that the lower court committed error in adjudging valid the donations made by Margarita Domeña although not made according to law, and thereby holding that plaintiffs are owners of the lot where the defendant’s house is situated.
From the evidence presented by the plaintiffs it appears proven that they acquired the lot of land where the house stands, by purchase from María Pía González by deed No. 63 executed on October 5, 1938; that María Pía González had acquired it ten years before by deed No. 99 executed on September 9, 1928, by purchase from Margarita Domeña and that she in turn had acquired it by donation made to her by all her brothers as appears from deeds No. 69 executed on June 30, 1928 and No. 72, executed on July 6, 1928.
The defendant-appellant’s argument is that these donations are null and void because in the aforesaid deed it is stated that Ramón Domeña, the father, donated, while living, the-house and land to his daughter Margarita; and that since Don Ramón was married, his wife had an undivided interest of one-half of the property and she .took no part in the donations. In the first place, we shall say that what is stated in the deeds is that Ramón Domeña, Margarita’s father, had made her the gift of a house, but nowhere is mention made of any land whatsoever. As to whether the donations made
“Moreover, as the defendants are not the lawful heirs of the donor, it is obvious that they have no right of action to oppose the gift to which the complaint refers. Such right of action, if any there he, inures exclusively to the lawful heirs, who, according to the complaint, are persons distinct from the defendants.”
The same situation exists in the case at bar. The defendant has not alleged or proved that he is the legitimate heir of the donors in this case and therefore camiot aissail the gift made by the Domeñas in favor of Margarita, from whom the title of María Pía González issnes, and that of the plaintiffs herein.
The defendant, by the fourth assignment, charges that the lower court committed error in holding that he mnst leave the honse at the disposal of the plaintiff after the payment of $400, although he only owns a cotenancy of one-half in the same and the other half belongs to his divorced wife, Elena Iguina.
As we have seen by the extract we have made of the pleadings, in the answer the defendant denied the averment made in the complaint that the house belonged exclusively to him. Prom the evidence presented by the defendant and admitted by the court, it appears that the-house object of this suit was acquired by the defendant and his divorced wife, Elena Iguina, by exchange for other properties made with the spouses Alfonso Muriente and Marcolina López. It so appears from deed No. 83,' executed in Arecibo on August 25, 1938, before Notary J. Cordova Rivera, where the following was stated:
“First: That Emiliano Rodríguez Suazo and Elena Iguina, while they were married to each other, acquired for the conjugal partnership a property, which is recorded at volume 89, page 176, and which is subject to a mortgage for a principal debt of Three Hundred and*784 Fifty Dollars ($350) and One Hundred Dollars ($100) as additional credit, in favor of Angel M. Yumet. The property is described as follows(It is described.).
“Second: That although Emiliano Rodríguez Suazo and Elena Iguina have been divorced, ihe conjugal partnership has not been divided, wherefore, the property hereinbefore described belongs to both.
“Third: That the property aforesaid has a value of One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($1,400).
“Fourth: That the other party, the spouses Alfonso Muriente and Marcolina López are owners of the following: (The house object of this action is described.)
Fifth: That having agreed to the exchange of the aforesaid properties, now and by the present instrument, Emiliano Rodríguez Suazo and Elena Iguina exchange their farm of four and a half cuer-das, hereinbefore described, with the spouses Alfonso Muriente and Marcolina López for the latter’s property, that is, the wooden house, which belongs to the aforesaid spouses, and from this moment Don Emiliano Rodriguez Suazo and Doña Elena Iguina become sole owners of the house that previously belonged to the spouses Muriente López, and likewise the spouses Muriente López become sole owners of the farm of four and a half cuerdas that formerly belonged to Emiliano Rodríguez Suazo and Elena Iguina. But taking into consideration that the farm of four and a half cuerdas is worth One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars, while the house described is only worth Four Hundred and Fifty Dollars, the spouses Muriente-López, to complete the value of the farm of four and a half cuerdas, appraised at One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($1,400), hereby deliver to Emiliano Rodriguez Suazo and Elena Iguina the sum of Four Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($450) in cash; plus a note for One Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($150) and the aforesaid spouses Muriente-López bind themselves to pay the Three Hundred and Fifty Dollar mortgage which encumbers the farm in favor of Mr. Yumet. So that the value of the house, Four Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($450) plus Four Hundred and Fifty ($450) in cash; plus One Hundred and Fifty ($150) in a promissory note; plus Three Hundred and Fifty ($350) of Yumet’s mortgage, make a total of One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars, ($1,400) which is a value equal to that of the farm. And in this manner the exchange has been performed.” (Italics supplied.)
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.