Méndez de Escalona v. Buscaglia
Méndez de Escalona v. Buscaglia
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiff sued the Treasurer of Puerto Rico in the instant case, alleging that in 1938 the Collector of Internal Revenue for San Juan attached certain real estate the title of which was in the name of Apelio Felices Portilla, in order to collect the unpaid taxes amounting to $1,606.97, of a sociedad of which Felices was the managing partner; that the plaintiff was present at the tax sale -of the said property held on October 27, 1938, and purchased the same for $1,632.98, which she paid to the Collector; that the plaintiff nevertheless has not been able to take possession of the property and has not acquired title thereto, because the iveg-istrar of Property has refused to register the title free of any encumbrances in her name on the ground that a mortgage of the property was recorded prior to the sale, which was not wiped out by the sale, the taxes herein not being a senior lien to the mortgage; that-the certificate issued by the Collector recited that “if the right of redemption were not exercised within a year, the certificate would constitute an absolute title to the property sold, once it was inscribed in the Registry of Property, free and clear of any mortgage charge or other lien’
The Treasurer moved to dismiss because the complaint failed to state facts constituting a cause of action, and because the court had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter or of the defendant. This motion was not argued. Instead, the district court conducted a trial on the merits. after the answer had been filed. Nevertheless, the court did not examine the evidence taken, but proceeded thereafter to enter judgment for the defendant on the ground that the complaint did not state a cause of action. The plaintiff has appealed from that judgment.
Although the plaintiff does not admit that the lower court was technically correct in ruling that the complaint does not state a cause of action, she does concede— indeed she alleges — that since the mortgage was recorded before the sale, under the circumstances herein — a tax sale of property of an individual for unpaid taxes on personal property of a sociedad of which the individual was the managing partner — the mortgage took precedence over the tax title (Fajardo Sugar Co. of P. R. v. Domenech, 45 P.R.R. 539, 542-48; § 315, Political Code; § 1 of Act No. 14, Laws of P. R., 1933 (p. 76). Sections 292, 339, Political Code; Gregory v. Treasurer, 24 P.R.R. 87)
However, the difficulties here is that a trial on the merits was actually held. And at the trial there was considerable testimony on-behalf of the plaintiff, most of which was not challenged by the defendant, that the plaintiff had originally purchased a different property at the tax sale held on October 27, 1938; that the previous Treasurer thereupon sent for her and asked her to do him a favor and to permit the sale to be cancelled because the property belonged to his personal physician and had been sold while the Treasurer was in continental United States;
The testimony adduced at the trial was, of course, not in conformity with the complaint. However, having admitted it, the lower court might well have considered whether or not it should consider the'pleadings ás amended to conform to the evidence (see Viñas v. Hernández, 60 P.R.R. 269; García et al. v. Martínez, per curiam, decided on February 23, 1945; Buie 15(5), Buies of Civil Procedure). And, it might be argued, although the district court failed to do
The defendant pleaded lack of jurisdiction. The district court found it unnecessary to consider this defense. It has been renewed in this court. The People of Puerto Rico cannot he sued without its consent (Bonet v. Yubucoa Sugar Co., 306 U. S. 505; Porto Rico v. Rosaly, 227 U. S. 270). ' The defendant asserts that this is in substance a suit against the People of Puerto Rico. The plaintiff does not argue this question in her brief. •
The defendant asserts that consent to the suit herein cannot be found within Act No. 76, Laws of P. R., 19j6 (p. luí), as amended by Act No. 11, 1928- (p. 130), since this is not a suit for damages or for revendication of property. The defendant cites Miguel v. Treasurer of Porto Rico, 28 P.R.R. 704; Martínez v. The People of P. R., 19 P.R.R. 954; and Rubert Hnos. v. The People et al., 19 P.R.R. 873, in support of his position.
In the Miguel case, we pointed out that whether the suit is against the state depends upon (p. 706) “the nature of the suit or of the relief demanded.” There the plaintiff sued for an injunction to restrain the Treasurer from paying the purchase price for property to be used as a site for a hospital. It was alleged that the purchase price was excessive, and that the hospital had already been erected on land presented as a gift to the Government. This court held that the Treasurer had no individual interest in the suit, and that the Government of Puerto Rico was the only real parly in interest. We therefore held that the dismissal of the suit for want of jurisdiction was proper. We quoted and applied the language used by our Circuit Court in disposing of another aspect of the same case as follows: “it is not alleged in the bill that the defendant, in deciding upon the
The real purpose of the suit herein is to obtain from the People of Puerto Rico the payment of $1,606.97 from the Treasury of Puerto Rico. The original complaint makes that abundantly clear. And even if we consider the complaint as amended by the testimony, the charges of alleged improper conduct by various former officials of the Government cannot of themselves create a right to sue the Government for a sum of money even if the Government has financially bene-fitted from the said conduct. If such facts be true, this may be unconscionable; but relief therefor is not in our hands. Whether or not the plaintiff has any remedy against the former officials whom she charges with improper conduct as individuals likewise is not for us to say in this case. We hold only that she cannot sue the Government for the money in question as consent therefor has not been granted. And' the most eloquent testimony that this is in substance a suit against the Government is furnished by the fact that the
In view of these considerations, we are powerless to act in this case. Relief for the plaintiff, if any, must come liom another branch of the Government. She once convinced the Legislature that a great injustice had been done to her. Perhaps she can do so again.
The judgment of the district court will be affirmed.
There are, as will be seen, a number of peculiarities in this case, one of which is that the mortgage, which was for more than the value of the house, was recorded on the same day as the attachment for the unpaid taxes was annotated in the Registry. The plaintiff, however, raised no question about the validity of the mortgage, and no question involving it is before us.
If these facts be true, it is difficult to see why the Treasurer took this action, unless he wanted to wipe out the record of the tax sale, as the owner could have redeemed within a year.
Relying largely on the presumption that the dates on the documents speak for themselves, the defendant denies this particular fact.
It is interesting to note that when it was a question of clearing the property and name of his personal physician, the former Treasurer did not ask for an opinion of the Attorney General. He simply proceeded without further ado to cancel the perfectly valid tax sale of the first property to the plaintiff and returned her money with interest — probably supplied by the physician and not by the Treasurer, although the record is not clear on this last point.
The case of Board of National Missions v. Robles, 58 P.R.R. 228, is distinguishable on its facts. The property of the plaintiff in that case, dedicated to religious services, was ex-empt from taxation. It was nevertheless sold for unpaid taxes to one Robles. This court overruled a judgment sustaining a demurrer to a suit to adjudge the tax sale void. There the taxpayer himself was protesting against a tax sale as void. Moreover, the Treasurer may not have been a necessary party in a suit by the plaintiff against the alleged purchaser at a tax sale to clear its title to its tax-exempt property. There is no discussion in that ease of the point involved herein. In the present case the taxpayer was admittedly in default and the property could validly be sold at the tax sale, although the purchaser took title subject to a prior mortgage. The purchaser, setting up a claim of improper conduct of certain former government officials, sues herein for the return of her money from the Treasury. That is obviously a suit against the Government and cannot prosper in the absence of consent by the Government thereto.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.