de los Ángeles Rodríguez v. District Court of Ponce
de los Ángeles Rodríguez v. District Court of Ponce
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Due to the fact that Clemente Rodriguez Carlo died intestate on February 20, 1945, his son Delfín F. Rodriguez Favale was appointed judicial administrator of the estate left by his father. The latter had two life insurance policies with the Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, policies numbers 3,098,590 and 3,163,724 for $10,000 and $4,000, respec-
While the judicial administration was pending, the heirs stipulated that both policies be collected by Delfín Rodríguez Favale in order to distribute the proceeds therefrom among the interested parties pursuant to law. Rodriguez Favale collected the policies, paid to José I. Rodriguez Carlo the $1,000 to which we have referred and retained the remaining $13,000. Meanwhile, the judicial administration proceeding followed its course culminating with the rendition of the final account on January 10, 1947, which account was approved and the cancellation of the bond ordered on January 30, 1947.
Two years after the closing of the judicial administration, that is, on April 30, 1949, the heirs Juana de los Ánge-les Rodríguez and Carmen Rodríguez filed in the lower court a motion within the judicial administration suit alleging, inter alia, that they had requested Rodriguez Favale several times to tender to each of them the amount of $4,333.33 which they said was their share in the proceeds of said policies, and that he had refused; that Rodriguez Favale has been utilizing the entire proceeds of the policies since August, 1945 and they requested that he be ordered to deliver to them their corresponding share therein, plus legal interest from the latter date. Rodriguez-Favale and Attorney Leopoldo Tormes were served with notice by mail.
The motion was heard and the court received evidence thereon, subsequently entering the order which motivated this writ of certiorari. In said order the court stated that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the motion because it had been filed within the judicial administration suit which by that time had terminated, but it nevertheless discussed the questions involved.
The petitioners contend that the court should have considered the motion in question as if it were a complaint in an action for declaratory judgment.
We think that the court acted correctly in dismissing the motion. As well put by the petitioners in their brief (p. 7) the policies formed no part of the inheritance and the rights of the beneficiaries arose out of the contract of insurance. Apparently everyone understood as much when they kept this matter out of the judicial administration.
The motion could not be considered as a complaint in an action for declaratory judgment simply because it is necessary to summon the parties in order to bring them
Furthermore, assuming that we were able to consider the motion appealed from as a complaint for declaratory judgment, we would be met with the difficulty that certain questions of fact have been raised which can not be decided unless a transcript of the evidence received during the hearing of the motion appealed from is sent up. However such a transcript has not reached us.
The writ will be discharged.
In the order appealed from, the lower court set forth the following which has not been controverted by the parties:
“The record of this case contains a motion signed by attorney Rafael V. Pérez Marchand, in representation of the petitioner Juana de los Án-geles Rodríguez, in which the latter requests, and it was so accepted by the parties, that the proceeds from the life insurance policies of the predecessor Clemente J. Rodriguez Carlo, be discussed in the corresponding proceeding for declaratory judgment. This proceeding has not yet been filed by either party.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.