Pagán v. Otero Chávez
Pagán v. Otero Chávez
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
When this case came before us for the first time, we rendered, on June 11 of last year, an opinion the final paragraph of which textually reads thus (see Pagán v. Otero, 68 P.R.R. 849, 854):
“The judgment appealed from should be reversed and, although we should render the judgment that should have been entered by the lower court granting the complaint, taking into consideration that, under § 12(d), supra, the court entering the judgment shall fix the term of eviction, which shall not be more than one year in the case of a building devoted to professional offices, businesses, commerce or industry, and that the lower court will be in a better position than this Court to determine, after hearing the parties, the term that should be fixed in this case for defendant’s eviction, the case will be remanded to said court to render judgment sustaining the complaint, with costs but without including attorney’s fees.”
Pursuant to our directions, the lower court set a day to hear the parties regarding the term that should be granted to the defendant to surrender the premises involved in the action of unlawful detainer. After the hearing was held, said court rendered judgment in which it held as proven the facts which we copy verbatim below:
“1. That the defendant has made a considerable investment in the business which he has established in the premises involved in this action, in view of the belief, which he had entertained, that he would remain in possession of the premises for a long time.
“2. That said investment was made by the defendant chiefly because of the legal advice of the plaintiff himself, who was his attorney, or at least his notary.
“3. That, in the present circumstances, it would be quite difficult for the defendant to find adequate premises for the removal of his business, inasmuch as the economic success of the latter depends on the good will of the premises which the de*472 fendant himself, through his industry and courtesy, has raised to a level of comparative importance and prestige.”
And by reason of all the foregoing it decreed the eviction of the defendant within the period of “six months after the judgment becomes unappealable.” The defendant there-' upon appealed to this Court, and the plaintiff now seeks the dismissal of the appeal for want of jurisdiction and for frivolousness.
The want of jurisdiction, as claimed by the plaintiff, is due to the fact that, according to § 629 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1933 ed. (Sec. 10, Act establishing unlawful detainer proceedings — Laws of 1905, p. 183), “in actions of unlawful detainer not more than one appeal shall be allowed,” and he contends that in the instant case, there have been two appeals: the first, by the plaintiff, in virtue of which this Court reversed the district court and remanded the case for the fixing of the term which should be granted to the defendant for vacating the premises; and second, the one now prosecuted by the defendant. The appellee is not correct. Although it is true that there was a judgment originally rendered by the lower court, the same was reversed by us and the ease remanded to that court with express directions to render judgment “sustaining the complaint, with costs but without including attorney’s fees.” It was so done by said court and the latter fixed the term which, in its judgment, should be granted to the defendant to surrender the premises. That is the judgment under consideration in the present case and it is appealable pursuant to the provisions of §§ 629 and 630 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It is natural that said judgment should be appealable, for, although in the rendition thereof the lower court only had discretion to fix the term for eviction, nevertheless, that discretion might have been abusively or erroneously exercised by the lower court and, hence, the party prejudiced thereby would have been entitled to have said judgment reviewed by us.. The first ground of dismissal is therefore untenable.
However, in fixing said period of six months for the surrender of the premises the district court relied on subdivision {d) of § 12 of Act No. 464 of April 25, 1946 (pp. 1326, 1344), which provided a period of not more than one year for vacating the premises devoted to professional offices, businesses, commerce, or industry. The term thus fixed was modified when §§ 12 and 12-A of Act No. 464 were amended by Act No. 201 of May 14, 1948 (Sess. Laws, pp. 574, 578) and § 12-B by Act No. 24 of August 21, 1948 (Spec. Sess. Laws, p. 238). Ail those amendments took effect prior to October 4, 1948, the date on which the lower court rendered its judgment. Consequently, i't is necessary to examine these amendatory Acts to determine whether they contain any provision which would compel us to grant a different term for the surrender of the property.
For the reasons stated, the appeal should be dismissed as frivolous; but in view of the considerations set forth above, the judgment appealed from will be modified to order the eviction of the defendant within the period of 90 days counted from the date on which the judgment shall have
That ground, as already stated by us, was included in subdivision d of $ 12 of Act No. 464 of 1946.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.