Andino v. Fajardo Sugar Co.
Andino v. Fajardo Sugar Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
(A) On October 29, 1959, the Superior Court, San Juan Part, entered a judgment in an action for wages filed by Ernesto Andino et al., before said court and prosecuted under
(B) On October 31, 1960, the Superior Court, San Juan Part, rendered a judgment in an action of unlawful detainer filed by Alberto Bachman against Manuel Martinó Ruidiaz. Copy of the notice of the judgment was filed on November 10 in the record. Martinó filed a notice of appeal and posted the undertaking required by law the following November 21. The plaintiff-appellee moves for the dismissal of the appeal because it was taken after five days had elapsed from the notification of the judgment.
Therefore, we must decide which has been the effect, as to the appellate procedure, of Act No. 115 of June 26, 1958 (Spec. Sess. Laws, p. 279, 4 L.P.R.A. § 37), which amended § 14 of the Judiciary Act of 1952, concerning the laws providing for the special proceedings in claims for services rendered and for unlawful detainer.
(a) Claims for Services Rendered:
When Act No. 10 of 1917, supra, was approved, it only covered claims for farm wages. It established a simple,
At present, Act No. 10 of 1917, supra, contains the following provisions (§ 1) regarding the consideration by the Supreme Court of the judgments rendered by the Superior Court in cases originating therein:
'(b) Unlawful Detainer:
The provisions of the Unlawful Detainer Act which refer to appeals have not been amended since the date of their approval: (a) not more than one appeal shall be allowed; (b) which shall be taken within 5 days after notice of the judgment is served to the parties; and (c) in order that the appeal be admitted in actions for nonpayment, it is necessary to deposit or to post a bond for the accrued rentals and for such rentals as they become due; or to execute an undertaking to answer to the plaintiff for damages and for the costs of the appeal. The special law provides specifically that: “The appeals shall be heard and determined in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure.” (Section 633 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 32 L.P.R.A. § 2834.)
When Act No. 10 of 1917 was approved, the appeals to the Supreme Court from the judgments rendered by the former district courts (now Superior Court) in civil suits were governed by Part IX of Subtitle 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (§§ 295 to 306, 32 L.P.R.A. §§ 1281 to 1293) and the appeal to the district courts from judgments rendered by the municipal court (now District Court) was governed by the Act of March 11, 1908 (Sess. Laws, p. 168). On different occasions, we have relied on these provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure and of the Act mentioned above to decide issues regarding the requirements of the appellate procedure in claims for wages and unlawful detainer proceedings. In Vando v. Municipal Court, 65 P.R.R. 6 (1945) and Asociación Cooperativa v. Navarro, 70 P.R.R. 886 (1950), we held that in the absence of any specific provision in the Unlawful Detainer Act, the notice of judgment is governed by § 2 of the Act of March 11, 1908. In Fog v. District Court, 65 P.R.R. 150 (1945) followed by Sosa v.
We have no doubt that when the Legislature granted a right to appeal to the Supreme Court from the judgments rendered by the Superior Court in actions for wages and unlawful detainer proceedings, it had in mind the appellate proceeding established by the Code of Civil Procedure. And in actions of unlawful detainer it specifically required that: “The appeals shall be heard and determined in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure.” (Unlawful Detainer Act, § 14, 32 L.P.R.A. § 2834.) In Jiménez v. District Court, 65 P.R.R. 35 (1945), we held that in prohibiting in Act
In 1950,
It may be affirmed, in general terms, that the most important procedural reform of Act No. 115 of 1958, supra, was to eliminate the absolute right to appeal from the judgments rendered by the Superior Court in civil cases brought before said court, except those involving a substantial constitutional question, and to rely on the discretion of the Supreme Court for the determination, by the issuance of a writ of review, of the judgments from the Superior Court, which :shall be brought to its consideration. In the report from the Committee of the Judiciary of the House of Representatives regarding the afore-mentioned acts, it was stated that “The Committee recommends, in this sense, that the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court be changed, with certain exceptions, from mandatory to discretional.” (Journal of Proceedings, Yol. X, p. 1560.) The purpose of this amendment was to avoid the delay then existing in the appellate procedure and to achieve a prompt disposal of frivolous appeals or of those lacking merits. In other words, the legislative intent was to guarantee a speedy procedure. But nevertheless, the term “appeal” used in the special laws mentioned above, cannot have a wider meaning than to indicate a procedure for reviewing the judgments of a lower court by a superior court. When the special statute does not fix a proceeding in detail, as in the cases at bar, we must conclude that it refers to the appellate procedure that the same legislator has established for ordinary civil actions. The mandatory appeal having disappeared, except in exceptional cases, we conclude that insofar as the judgments rendered by the Superior Court in actions for wages and unlawful de-tainer are concerned, the appropriate proceeding to bring them to the consideration of the Supreme Court is the one provided in Act No. 115-of 1958, supra, that is, the dis-
Having disposed of this first question regarding the appropriate proceeding, we must now consider the term within which said petition for review or appeal in cases involving substantial constitutional questions should be taken. The legislative intent is the principal factor to find the solution. As we have stated above, the legislative purpose in claims for wages and unlawful detainer proceedings was to impart a greater speed because of their special character. To achieve this, it reduced the term to appeal from thirty to five days and it authorized that the original record of the case be sent to the appellate court. That same purpose is achieved by the review proceeding, since the discretion exercised by this Court to that effect allows for the prompt disposal of frivolous and untenable appeals. The term of five days met the legislative purpose of accelerating the disposal of the claims for wages since it was a mandatory appeal according to which the mere filing of the notice of appeal was sufficient to stay the execution of the judgment. But once the mandatory character of the appeal disappears, the term of five days loses its special significance. As a matter of fact, the reduction of twenty-five days in the term is not such an effective measure to expedite the proceeding as is the discretionary power to issue the writ which depends upon the grounds set forth in the petition. On the other hand, if
In Secretary of Labor v. Superior Court, 75 P.R.R. 792 (1954), we held that the term within which to appeal from the former Municipal Court (now the District Court) to the District Court (now Superior Court) in actions for wages is the term of five days provided for by the special law regarding this matter, and not the term provided for by the Rules governing the appeals from the District Court to the Superior Court, which at the present time is of thirty days.
We wish to make clear that since the requirement for a deposit or bond provided in the Unlawful Detainer Act is of a jurisdictional character,
Once the circumstances of each case are considered
In view of the reasons set forth above (a) the motion to set aside petition for review No. 246 filed by plaintiffs-respondents is dismissed, and (6) the motion to dismiss appeal No. 12852 is granted.
The appropriate part of § 1 of Act No. 10 of 1917, as amended, reads as follows:
“Against judgments entered by district courts [now Superior Court] in cases of original jurisdiction, appeals may be filed with the Supremo Court within 5 days following notification of the judgment.”
a Although these appeals have not been consolidated, we have considered them jointly for the purposes of deciding them since they involve germane issues.
An express provision was also incorporated to the effect that the judgments rendered by the present Superior Court in appeals from the District Court could be reviewed by the Supreme Court by certiorari proceedings in those cases in which such judgments are not appealable to the said court. This includes the cases of claims for farm wages in which only one appeal is allowed and the cases originating in the District-Courts when the amount involved does not exceed $300. Ayala v. Martell, 65 P.R.R. 106 (1945); Collazo v. District Court, 61 P.R.R. 282 (1943).
In Hull Dobbs Company of Puerto Rico v. Superior. Court, ante, p. 73 (opinion delivered on February 14, 1961), we decided that the proper proceeding to bring to our consideration the judgments rendered, by the Superior Court in actions for wages originating in the District Court is the writ of special certiorari referred to in Rule 15.1(a) of our Rules.
By virtue of Act No. 17 of April 11, 1945 (Sess. Laws, p. 44), a provision was added to the special. law regarding claims for wages whereby the attorney’s fees shall be assessed against the defendant in all cases where judgment is rendered in favor of the plaintiff.
Act No. 150 of May 1, 1950 (Sess. Laws, p. 406).
The following specific provisions of Act No. 10 of 1917, supra, may be enumerated, among others, as being different from the Rules of Civil Procedure and from the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure which are now in effect: (a) regarding the designation of the court having jurisdiction, it departs from the general rule that personal actions shall be tried in the district in which the defendant resides (§ 81 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 32 L.P.R.A. § 407) and it provides that the complaint may be filed in the district in which the worker resides or in that district in which the services were rendered; (6) it empowers a married woman to sue without the requirement that her husband accompany her in the action (see Rule 17 (d) and former § 54 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 32 L.P.R.A. $ 304); of. Valiente & Cía. v. District Court, 68 P.R.R,. 491 (1948); (c) it requires that the motion for extension to plead be accompanied by affidavit (see Rule 9); (d) it allows for a special summons to be served on the person who in any manner represents the defendant in the farm, establishment or place where the work originating the claims was performed (see Rule 4); (e) it fixes a term of 15 days after the publication of the last summons within which the defendants residing out of the Commonwealth may appear in court; (/) it forbids the filing of compulsory counterclaims (see Rule 11.1) ; (g) it provides that the judgments rendered by default or because of the failure to appear for trial shall be unappealable; (h) it provides for the compulsory assessment of attorney’s fees against the defendant in all cases where a judgment is rendered against him, irrespective of whether he is guilty of obstinacy or not. Feliciano v. Puerto Rican Express Co., 67 P.R.R. 351 (1947).
Collazo v. Puig & Abraham, 70 P.R.R. 789 (1950); Hernández v. Municipal Court, 69 P.R.R. 827 (1949).
This interpretation of the term “appeal” includes, among others, without intending to cover them all, the following cases: appeal in tax «cases (13 L.P.R.A. § 289) ; order of approval of partitions (32 L.P.R.A. § 2625); orders in cases of adoption, waiver of patria potestas and of transfer of custody (32 L.P.R.A. § 2698); orders in judicial authorization .proceedings regarding property of minors (32 L.P.R.A. § 2732) ; orders in cases of partial or total desistance from taking in condemnation proceedings (32 L.P.R.A. «5 2910); writs of quo warranto (32 L.P.R.A. § 3397). Regarding judgments in actions for temporary maintenance, see Pirazzi v. Vecchini, 48 P.R.R. 688 (1935) and Hornes v. Giusti, 48 P.R.R. 249 (1935), where we held that the term for taking an appeal is of thirty days and not of five days as the one provided for in unlawful detainer proceedings.
García Commercial v. Secretary of the Treasury, 80 P.R.R. 739 (1958); Colonos de Santa Juana v. Sugar Board, 77 P.R.R. 371 (1954); Lazada v. Antonio Roig, Sucrs., 73 P.R.R. 255 (1952); People v. Beltrán, 73 P.R.R. 466 (1952).
González v. López, 69 P.R.R. 881 (1949); López v. District Courts 68 P.R.R. 291 (1948); Hernández v. Cruz, 48 P.R.R. 509 (1935). Cf. Act No. 9 of October 8, 1954 (Spec. Sess. Laws, p. 122, 13 L.P.R.A. $ 816) and § 272(b) (2) and (b) (3) of Act No. 91 of June 29, 1954 (Sess. Laws, p. 474, 13 L.P.R.A. $ 3272).
Cf. Blanes v. Valldejuli, 73 P.R.R. 2 (1952); Vivas v. Petrilli, 66 P.R.R. 617 (1946); Cordero v. District Court, 59 P.R.R. 819 (1942); Fabián v. Rodríguez, 53 P.R.R. 427 (1938); Suau v. Pol, 51 P.R.R. 431 (1937).
We refer to those cases in which (a) the notice of appeal was filed, without setting forth the grounds therefor, within five days after notice of the judgment was filed; and (6) the notice of appeal was filed, setting forth the grounds therefor, five days after the filing of the notice of the judgment, but within thirty days after said filing.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.