Ruiz v. Ruiz
Ruiz v. Ruiz
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Valentín Sánchez and Emilia Iluiz Rivera lived in concubinage until the death of the latter. Five children were horn of this relationship: the four plaintiffs and the defendant. By deed of February 26, 1919, executed before Notary Gustavo Zeno Sama, Emilia Ruiz, with her own money, purchased from Alberto Gandía a farm containing 9.23 acres {cuerdas), located in the ward of Campo Alegre, Hatillo. On October 6, 1923, Emilia Ruiz executed and delivered a promissory note for the amount of $3,000 to Valentín Sán-chez, or order, to he paid on October 7, 1925, which note was authenticated by affidavit number 1877 before Notary Gustavo Zeno Sama. Said note was endorsed by Valentín Sán-
It should be pointed out, however, that the defendant, by her testimony and that of her father-in-law, attempted to prove that the said agreement with her father did not exist; that he was insolvent and- that at the time of his death she had him with her at her home because he had been sick for sometime; that the farm was bought by her from Da-rder, as indicated in the deed; that, of the amount of $1,000 for the purchase, she had saved $500 herself by raising hogs and sewing, and that the remaining $500 was loaned to her by the father of her then fiancee whom she married three years later, that said loan was made without interest and that no document in proof thereof was executed. The father-in-law corroborated the testimony of his daughter-in-law; but cross-examination disclosed that all his capital consisted of a 10.40 cuerdas farm and that, in order to obtain the $500 which he loaned to his son’s fiancee, he had to sell three cows that he owned and which supplied the milk consumed by his family of 10 children.
“The evidence that she introduced during the trial to show how she acquired this farm, is so unconvincing that it strengthens instead of destroys the evidence for the plaintiffs which consisted of the testimony of the notary Gustavo Zeno Sama and Rafael Capó, who have a well-recognized reputation for veracity in the comunity,”
Upon this evidence, weighed in this form, the court below entered the judgment appealed from, stating that the plaintiffs and the defendant are co-owners of the farm described in the complaint in the proportion of a fifth undivided interest for each one and ordered that the correspond-^ ing entry, in accordance with said judgment, be made in the registry of property. The court did not subject the defendant to the payment of fruits claimed, because there was not enough evidence to sustain the claim, but adjudged that she pay the costs, including $100 for attorney’s fees.
The appellant considers the above-described transaction as a gift of real property. Because of this, she alleges that the court should have sustained her demurrer because of insufficiency of facts, and that the judgment is not warranted by the evidence.
The appellant contends that this being a real property gift made by a father to his children, the gift had not only to be made by public instrument, but had to be accepted by the donees before the death of the donor. The trial judge, in an attempt to rebut the defendant’s theory, stated in his opinion that this was not a case of a gift of real property, but of personal property, since what was actually done by Valentín Sánchez was to give to his children the money needed for the purchase.
This conclusion is contrary to the evidence, since there is nothing therein that shows a delivery of money. Nevertheless, even if the transaction is considered as a gift of real property, any result other than that reached by the district court would be to allow the defendant to enrich herself unjustly at the expense of the plaintiffs.
“The case could be decided under section 7 of the Civil Code by taking the rules about resulting or constructive trusts from equity .and applying them. In equity jurisdictions a constructive trust arises in eases similar to the one at bar.”
In the case of Foreman v. Foreman (N. Y. 1929) 167 N. E. 428, a house and a lot in the city of New York were conveyed to Edith Foreman. The purchase price was paid by her husband, the plaintiff. There was evidence which tended to prove that the husband had asked her to accept the title in her name, because he wanted to keep his real property separate from the property involved in his business. There was also evidence to the effect that she agreed to make a deed in his favor upon his request to do so, and to manage
The' Court of Appeals, after stating these facts, and through its Chief Justice, Mr. Cardozo, in reversing the appealed judgment, said the following:
“The rule is now settled by repeated judgments of this court that the statute does not obstruct the recognition of a constructive trust affecting an interest in land where a confidential relation would be abused if there were repudiation, without redress, of a trust orally declared. (Citing authorities.) Criticism of the rule as: involving a partial repeal of the prohibition of the statute is heard from time to time in commentary and treatise. Whatever force the criticism may have had while the rule was in the making has vanished with the years. By long acquiescence, the exception, if such it be, has wrought itself by construction into the body of the statute as if written there from the beginning. It is not the promise only, nor the breach only, but unjust enrichment under cover of the relation of confidence, which puts the court in motion.”
To the same effect, see 2 Restatement of the Law, Trust, p. 140 et seq.; 3 Bogert on Trusts, p. 1596; the article of Professor Costigan in 12 Mich. L. Rev. 427; Metzger v. Metzger (Pa. 1940) 129 A.L.R. 683, and the monographs in 35 A.L.R. 280, 307; 45 Id. 851, 855; 66 Id. 156; 80 Id. 195, 206, and 129 Id. 689, 695.
The fact that the plaintiffs have entitled their action “revendication of co-ownership and payment of fruits” does not forbid us from deciding that in this case there exists a
The appellant alleges as prejudicial error the fact that the plaintiffs were allowed to file the amended complaint in this case because, according to them, in the latter, the cause of action stated in the original complaint was altered. There is no such variance. The cause of action is the same. In the second complaint the manner in which Dar-der acquired the title is corrected, and this appears accepted in the stipulation subscribed by the parties.
Nor has the cause of action prescribed, since the defendant could not acquire by any other prescription save the extraordinary prescription of thirty years, since she lacks good faith, which is one of the indispensable elements for the existence of ordinary prescription.
Although for reasons different from those of the district court, the judgment appealed from is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.