Ángel Cruz v. Ortiz
Ángel Cruz v. Ortiz
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
In the former District Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, Miguel Ángel Cruz filed a petition for injunction against Eulalio Ortiz, alleging, in brief, that petitioner is the owner of a house and lot in Degetau Street in Santurce;
Defendant filed his answer in a single pleading, denying the essential facts set forth in the complaint, and a “motion to dismiss” wherein he alleged that the petition for injunction “does not state sufficient facts against defendant, on the
After a preliminary hearing and after documentary and ■oral evidence was introduced, the court a quo rendered judgment sustaining the petition for injunction after setting forth the following “findings of fact,” which have not been challenged on appeal:
“From the result of the evidence practiced the court deems as proved the following facts:
“(a) That plaintiff Miguel A. Cruz is the owner of the lot and house No. 29 of Degetau Street, of Santurce, which he occupies with his family, wife and children, and that defendant Eulalio Ortiz, is the owner of the building at the corner of Muñoz Rivera and Degetau Streets bounded by plaintiff’s lot on the North and on the East. That while plaintiff’s house is a one-story building, zinc roofed, defendant’s building is a three-story building made of cement blocks with a frame penthouse, zinc roofed, and their South and East walls stand precisely on the line adjoining plaintiff’s lot.
“(b) That'defendant, when he built the walls of his building, left three openings in the South wall, one four feet nine inches wide by forty-three inches high which is in front of plaintiff’s parlor with direct lights over said property; another, two and one half feet wide by one and one half foot high which faces the kitchen in the West wall; another fifty-two inches wide by one and a half foot high and which faces the bedroom of plaintiff’s father; another, in plaintiff’s garage at seven feet three inches from the floor and which is four feet four inches wide by one and a half foot high; and another above the roof of plaintiff’s garage, six inches from said roof which is one foot nine inches wide by one foot nine inches high. That three of said openings were made in the South wall and two in the West wall of defendant’s building.
“(c) That in the highest point of the West wall of his building defendant left some wood mouldings, overhanging towards plaintiff’s lot, which, because of the rain and the action of time*301 fall off in pieces and land on top and inside plaintiff’s lot and house; that in the South wall of his building defendant also left other pieces of wood mouldings hanging over plaintiff’s lot which are likely to fall; that defendant left part of the South wall lower than the rest and from the penthouse built by defendant there is a direct view over defendant’s lot less than two meters apart from the line adjoining the latter.
“(d) That because of failure to plaster the West and South walls the concrete blocks become loose and fall on top and inside plaintiff’s lot and house.
Defendant has appealed to this Court assigning as sole error the following:
“The lower court erred in setting aside the motions to dismiss and in granting a writ of injunction without it being alleged in the petition or proved that there existed irreparable damages, nor a multiplicity of suits or that plaintiff had an ordinary remedy in the course of the law.”
With respect to the alleged insufficiency of the complaint, we should indicate, as a starting point, that the duty of the court is limited to considering whether in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and with every intendment regarded in his favor, the complaint is sufficient to constitute a valid claim, which may give rise to a remedy. González v. Hawayek, 71 P.R.R. 493, 498; Rivera v. People, 73 P.R.R. 841. See, also, Meléndez v. Iturrondo, 71 P.R.R. 56; Boulon v. Pérez, 70 P.R.R. 941; Spanish American Tobacco Co. v. Izquierdo, Com’r., 67 P.R.R. 146. A complaint should not be dismissed unless it appears to a certainty that plaintiff is entitled to no relief under any state of facts which could be proved in support of his claim. 2 Moore’s Federal Practice, 2245, § 12.08, second edition; Mullen v. Fitz Simons and Connell Dredge & Dock Co., 1949, 172 F. 2d 601; Gruen Watch Co. v. Artists Alliance, 1951, 191 F. 2d 700. The averments of the complaint must be liberally construed. 2 Moore, op. cit. 2245. If a valid claim appears from the complaint, the court should grant the appropriate remedy although it is not the one requested in the complaint. Núñez
The lower court concluded that in some walls built by defendant precisely on the boundary line with plaintiff’s lot, defendant left several openings of a size not authorized by law and, naturally, at a distance of less than two meters and less than sixty centimeters from plaintiff’s lot. That in said walls defendant left hanging and towards plaintiff’s lot some mouldings which became loose with the rain and the action of time and fell in plaintiff’s lot, as well as other wood mouldings which were likely to fall, and that the “concrete blocks” of which defendant’s walls were built were becoming loose and falling inside the house and lot of the plaintiff.
' Defendant’s act, and especially his making the aforementioned openings, clearly injured plaintiff’s rights pursuant to the legal grounds already pointed out, and impaired his rights to have the afore-mentioned openings closed. The problem involved in this appeal .consists in determining whether, for the benefit of the plaintiff, the extraordinary remedy of injunction lies, that is, whether the remedy for an action for the establishment of an easement, available to petitioner (or an action for the denial of an easement in its case), with the corresponding compensation for damages, constitutes an adequate remedy, in such a way as to exclude the possibility of an injunction for the purposes of protecting plaintiff’s right.
An injunction lies when meant to avoid irreparable damages or a multiplicity of suits. Torruella v. Sucesión J.
The concept of avoiding irreparable damages or a multiplicity of suits is an aspect of the basic rule that an injunction lies when the remedy at law is inadequate. Treasurer of P. R. v. Tax Court, 73 P.R.R. 282; Las Monjas Racing Corp. v. Racing Commission, 67 P.R.R. 42, 53; Alvarez v. Public Amusements and Sports Commission, 67 P.R.R. 330; Mari v. Vicéns, 67 P.R.R. 442; Cruz v. Insular Racing Commission, 65 P.R.R. 705; Moffett v. Buscaglia, Treas., 64 P.R.R. 836; Rivera v. Colón, 62 P.R.R. 51; Central Cambalache v. Cordero, 61 P.R.R. 7; Chardón v. Laffaye, supra; Cia. Popular de Transporte v. Suarez, 52 P.R.R. 240. See, also, 43 C.J.S. 863, § 182(6); 28 Am. Jur. 459, § 283.
Under the attendant circumstances, the rights of a plaintiff may be protected by way of injunction, the ordinary remedy not being completely adequate. 3 Powell, Real Property, § 420, pp. 481-487, especially at p. 483; 139 A.L.R. 165; 93 A.L.R. 1180; 12 A.L.R. 2d 1214, 1216; 28 C.J.S. 788 et seq., § 107. Actions for the establishment or denial of an easement may be useful.to obtain a declaration of rights and damages, but their usefulness does not bar injunction, in view of the fact that because of the continuous manner in which easements are, or may be, exercised, the impairment or injury to the rights of servitude may give rise to a multiplicity of suits.
In San Patricio Corporation v. Colón, 65 P.R.R. 860, the following was stated:
“If as in the present case the complaint alleges that the plaintiff is the owner of a parcel of land described in the complaint; that a servitude of right of' way has been constituted in favor of said parcel and over an estate belonging to the defendants and that the latter are depriving plaintiff of the use of said servitude, there is no doubt that plaintiff’s right has been invaded by the defendants, and in order to safeguard this right the law affords a remedy. The remedy sought by plaintiff, as disclosed by the averments and the prayer of the complaint is the declaration of the existence of a servitude, and consequently, that a preliminary writ of injunction and later a permanent writ be issued ordering the defendants and its agents to remove or destroy the fences which obstruct the traffic of the road built on the strip of land over which the servitude was constituted ....
“Even though the plaintiff has not given any name to the action brought in case No. 442 (lower court), the facts alleged constitute an action for the only manner of protecting (acción confesorio) and the only manner of protecting the use of said easement is by ordering the invader of such right to remove the obstacle and to refrain in the future from impairing plaintiff’s right. Whether it be labeled an order or an injunction, at all events what the court does, is to order the removal of the, obstacle and take the necessary steps to prevent the repetition of any impairment of the right of servitude.”
Injunction lies, besides, to avoid violation of private restrictions. Santaella v. Purón, 60 P.R.R. 547; Macatee v. Biascoechea et al., 37 P.R.R. 1; Lawton v. Rodríguez,
In the case at bar plaintiff’s rights have been created by the law, and the violations of those rights may be forbidden by way of injunction. 4 Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence 935, § 1338. Cf. Vallecillo v. Vidal et al., 33 P.R.R. 325, 328. This is especially true in view of the continuous •character of the servitude of light and view, and of the continuous character also of the violations by defendant of plaintiff’s rights.
The judgment appealed from will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.