Robins Farms, Inc. v. Correa
Robins Farms, Inc. v. Correa
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
On October 26, 1953, plaintiff Robins Farms, Inc. filed a claim for damages against Narciso Correa and Gregorio Nieves, Vega Alta farmers, alleging that they used and sprayed on their farms the weed killer known as “2-4-D”
The trial having been held on the merits, the Superior Court dismissed the complaint. The appellant maintains that the trial court erred (1) in refusing to correct the record of inspection as respects two particulars; (2) in failing to find that the three defendants used 2-4-D; (3) in failing to find that each defendant caused or contributed to cause the damage to the plaintiff in the absence of evidence that the damage was caused by other persons; (4) in failing to hold the defendants guilty of civil liability (a) regardless of whether or not they were negligent, (b) or because they were negligent, (c) or because they created a nuisance; (5) in concluding that even if the 2-4-D had come from the defendants’ farms as a result of their negligence, such negligence was not the proximate cause of the damages; and (6) in being prejudiced against the plaintiff.
We need not discuss the first error assigned because, even if the record of inspection had been amended as sought by the plaintiff, it would not have altered our decision at all in view of our conclusions on the evidence.
The remaining errors are so related to each other that we will discuss them jointly. To this end, we need to examine more closely the facts of the case. One of the purposes of
In his findings of fact the trial judge states that Robins Farms, Inc. was organized in the latter part of 1952 with a capital of $42,700, including a $10,000 loan by the Government Development Bank. Robins Farms, Inc. would pay to Robins an annual salary of $10,000. The most important conditions of the aforesaid contract between the plaintiff and the Land Authority are the following: The Authority leased to the plaintiff a parcel of land situated in Vega Alta; it granted to the plaintiff an option to purchase those lands; it would procure industrial tax exemption, otherwise within 12 months counted from the date of the contract the Authority, at the plaintiff’s option, would be bound to purchase from the plaintiff all the installations, equipment, tanks, structures, etc., which the plaintiff had on such land, at cost price
The plaintiff undertook the operation of its farm, which it devoted exclusively or mostly to the production of tomatoes, and the first two crops produced a gross income of $9,548.99 and $11,587.99. It was at the third crop that the tomato plantation (about three cuerdas) deteriorated to a great extent, and this, crop produced a gross income of only $2,345.15. Late in January or early in February 1954, Robins exercised its option to sell and sold to the Authority the structures on the land at their cost price, which they fixed at $54,000. On February 15, 1954, Robins became an employee of the Land Authority with an annual salary of $10,000. The Authority entrusted to Robins the administration of the same “hydroponic” farm of Vega Alta. On the date of the trial (November 1955) Robins was still an employee of the Authority.
Briefly, the amended averment of the plaintiff is to the effect that it undertook the cultivation of three cuerdas of tomatoes early in 1953, and that in June of that year the crop was destroyed as a result of the action of 2-4-D which defendants Correa and Nieves used in connection with the cultivation of sugar cane and which codefendant Land Authority stored and used in connection with pineapple cultivation, all of which took place on adjoining lands or very near to those of the plaintiff.
The plaintiff alleges that the trial court erred in failing to find that the three defendants used 2-4-D (error No. 2). The evidence is most conflicting. The three defendants denied that they used 2-4-D. The evidence showed that Nieves is engaged in cattle raising and not in the cultivation of sugar cane. There is evidence that Correa purchased around those months some quantities of that weed killer, but there is no evidence that he used it. The same is true of
It is true that during the trial the judge made several remarks which he should not have made, and which show his dissatisfaction with the relation between Robins and the Land Authority and the terms of the contract. Taking those circumstances (such relation and the terms of the contract) isolatediy, the judge’s reaction is comprehensible. He believed that the contract was very advantageous to the plaintiff and that the Authority was assuming all the risks, while Robins could not lose. Even if it were so, what the judge evidently did not bear in mind was the social, public objectives pursued by the Authority by that contract and the
In upholding the weighing of the evidence made by the trial court, the implication is that error number four was not committed. In urging that we hold the defendants civilly liable regardless of whether or not they were negligent, the plaintiff requests that we apply to the case the absolute liability rule or doctrine.
This doctrine of absolute liability for extraordinary activities is comparatively recent and in the United States it is still controversial. A number of state jurisdictions have accepted it and others have rejected it explicitly.
The distinguished legal representatives of the plaintiff cite in their brief a fragment of the language used by Mr. Justice Blackburn.
Error number five was not committed, since it was a hypothetical comment made by the trial judge which did not serve as a ground for his decision. We see no reason for imposing on plaintiff $1,200 for attorney’s fees. For the reasons stated, the judgment rendered in this case by the Superior Court, Bayamón Part, on November 4, 1955, will be affirmed, except that it will be modified so as to eliminate the payment of attorney’s fees by the plaintiff.
In English called “absolute liability” at times and “strict liability” at other times.
Prosser, Law of Torts 329, § 59 (2d ed. 1955).
Prosser, op. cit. at 318.
Prosser, op. cit. at 332-34.
Fletcher v. Rylands, 3 H. & C. 774, 159 Eng. Rep. 737 (1865), reversed, Fletcher v. Rylands, L.R. 1 Ex. 265 (1866), aff’d, Rylands v. Fletcher, L.R. 3 H.L. 330 (1868).
See Booth v. Rome, W.&O. T. R. Co., 140 N.Y. 267, 278, 35 N.E. 592, 596 (1893); Gulf Pipe Line Co. v. Sims, 168 Okla. 209, 213, 32 P.2d 902, 906 (1934); Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Sanderson, 113 Pa. 126, 155-56, 6 Atl. 453, 464 (1866); Turner v. Big Lake Oil Co., 128 Tex. 155, 165-66, 96 S.W.2d 221, 226 (1936).
Blake v. Fried, 95 A.2d 360, 366 (Pa. Super. 1953).
Crop Dusting: Legal Problems in a New Industry, note in 6 Stan. L. Rev. 69 (1953).
The Common Law 35 (1946 ed.).
In Rylands v. Fletcher, supra.
For an exhaustive discussion of this case, see Prosser, The Principle of Rylands v. Fletcher, in Selected Topics on the Law of Torts 135, 139 (1953). Also, and also on the theory of absolute liability, see ch. 14 of 2 Harper & James, The Law of Torts 785 et seq., § § 14.1 to 14.16 (1956 ed.); and annotation, Liability for Injury Consequent Upon Spraying or Dusting of Crop, 12 A.L.R.2d 436.
Prosser, Law of Torts 329, § 59 (2d ed. 1955).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.