Cámara Insular de Comerciantes Mayoristas v. Lavandero
Cámara Insular de Comerciantes Mayoristas v. Lavandero
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Some time in March 1950, the domestic corporation Suers, de Lavandero, Inc. owed the sum of $22,232.82 to several
On February 9, 1951, the Cámara cancelled the promissory note issued by the corporation and also the mortgage constituted as already stated, upon payment in full of the total amount, “by means of other guarantees which today have substituted the present obligation.” The corporation was thus able to dispose freely of the mortgaged chattels. It is well to note that Santiago Lavandero procured the cancellation referred to by proposing that the corporation’s unpaid balance be reduced to 70 per cent only of the outstanding principal, out of which he paid part in cash and issued an obligation for the sum of $7,239.64
Santiago Lavandero paid four monthly instalments on the promissory note totalling $1,608.80, but since he failed to pay two or more instalments on the obligation the Cámara went to court to recover the balance of $5,630.84, in accordance with the express authorization granted by an ac
Appeal was taken from the judgment sustaining the complaint. All the errors assigned hinge on the capacity of the plaintiff association to sue, to bind itself, and to be assignee of the credits of its members and procure their collection.
1. Just a few days ago we passed upon a similar issue on the challenging of the entity Cámara Insular de Comercian-tes Mayoristas to act as assignee of the credits of its members and seek collection thereof through judicial channels. We rejected the debtor’s position, which is identical with that maintained by defendants-appellants. After examining the applicable legal provisions and the by-laws of that institution, which we need not recite here, we stated in Cámara Insular, Etc. v. Anadón, S. en C., ante, p. 360, that
2. Since the note in question was executed by defendants in favor of the plaintiff, they can not assert lack of capacity of the creditor entity in order to evade payment of the obligation which they not only assumed voluntarily, but which arose in the judicial business as a result of suggestions made by the principal debtor himself. B. Fernández Hnos., Sucrs. v. Ortega, 51 P.R.R. 428 (1937); Succrs. of Canals Bros. & Co. v. Heirs of Quiñones, 46 P.R.R. 512, 518
3. The averment that there was no consideration in the execution of the promissory note object of the present action is without merit, because the obligors did not receive money or properties from the creditor in exchange for the obligation. This case is an example of subjective novation by change of the debtor, that is, the substitution of an obligation for a subsequent obligation which extinguished the old one, which is performed by changing the obligor with the express consent of the creditor. On necessity of the creditor’s consent, see Ríos v. Rosaly, 50 P.R.R. 652 (1936); Bou v. Colorado, 24 P.R.R. 125 (1916). Specifically, the transaction is one of delegation, that is, when the debtor (the corporation) offers and the creditor accepts a third party (Santiago and Cobián) who consents to the substitution, in con
“The obligation assumed by the party delegated with respect to the delegatee has a consideration, not in the personal relations arising between them, but in the relations which join the party delegated and the party delegating. The party delegated contracts an obligation to the delegatee to make a gift, a loan, or a payment to the party delegating. The delegatee may even be unaware of the purpose sought by the party delegated. Thus, in his relations with the delegatee, the obligation assumed is separate from its consideration. It is an abstract obligation.”
On the other hand, we have held that where a promissory note is subscribed in substitution for other prior obligations, the fact that no money or property was received from the creditor by virtue of such note does not preclude the existence of a consideration therefor. National City Bank v. Martínez, 41 P.R.R. 162 (1930); Roig Commercial Bank v. Valladares et al., 38 P.R.R. 393 (1928); Commercial Bank v. Arguinzonis et al., 35 P.R.R. 260 (1926).
4. We need not discuss other collateral questions raised in the elaborate brief for appellants, for in the final
The judgment rendered by the Superior Court, San Juan Part, on April 4, 1957, will be affirmed.
The said obligation, copied verbatim, reads as follows:
“(promissory note)
“For $7,239.64 Matures: Every month
“We Owe and Promise to Pay solidarity to the Cámara Insular de Comerciantes Mayoristas, or to its order, at its domicile in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the sum of seven thousand two hundred thirty-nine dollars AND sixty-pour cents ($7,239.64), value received to our complete satisfaction and content.
“We bind ourselves solidarity to pay the principal of this obligation
“It is expressly agreed that default in payment on the due date of two of the aforesaid instalments shall accelerate the maturity of this obligation, and the holder or indorsee of this promissory note, for that reason along and without the need for demand or notice, shall be free to demand immediate payment of the principal of this obligation or of the unpaid part of such principal, and also interest on the total amount due as of the date of such maturity and until payment in full at the rate of five per cent (5%) per annum.
“We waive the right of presentment for payment, protest, notice of nonpayment and protest, and agree that the period for payment be extended without notice of extension, at the creditor’s option, and in the event of judicial claim we submit to the jurisdiction of the insular courts of the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico, having jurisdiction over this matter, either by reason of the amount and/or of the subject matter of the action, and we bind ourselves to pay the sum of five hundred dollars ($500) for costs, expenses, and fees of the attorney engaged by the holder of this promissory note to seek recovery thereof, even though the proceedings are instituted in our default.
“San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 9, 1951.
(s) F. Santiago Lavandero
(s) Ramón Cobián Chinea
“Affidavit No. 1887.
“Subscribed to and sworn before me by Francisco Santiago La-vandero and Ramón Cobián Chinea, of full age, married, property owners, and residents of Bayamón, Puerto Rico, who are personally known to me, to which I attest, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 9th day of February 1951.
(s) L. Ríos Algarín,
Notary Public.”'
It was alleged that since the Cámara Insular de Comerciantes Ma-yoristas was organized as a nonprofit association, it had no legal capacity to sue or to appear on behalf of the members; that although the incorporation clauses authorized such action with a representative character, such action is contrary to law; that the plaintiff association can not be assignee of credits nor seek their collection; that it is not actually the party in interest, and that it is estopped from prosecuting the action because the promissory note involves “ultra vires transactions” and “dealings and transactions in excess of and beyond (its) statutory powers.” It was further denied that the defendants received any value in exchange for the obligation, and that there was any “cause or consideration” in the execution of the promissory note. Lastly, it was contended that the expression “value received to our complete satisfaction and content” appearing in the text of the document is false, ineffective, simulated, and nonexistent,
The trial court concluded, with sufficient support in the evidence, that the corporation received “a release from its indebtedness to the firms which had assigned, for collection, their credits to the plaintiff. Such fact appears clearly from the return which the corporation filed in the Bankruptcy Court, in which it did not include those firms among its creditors.” In the brief filed by appellant it is repeatedly reiterated that the corporation has not been relieved by the original creditors, alleging that the account still appears on the books of some of them. This fact does not have the significance attributed to it, and it probably refers to accounting functions for the purpose of deducting as a bad debt the unpaid balance which may ultimately result after the Cámara exhausts the collection steps taken as assignee. It was not shown that an action for recovery has been brought individually by a.ny creditor, or that any extrajudicial steps have been taken.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.