Piovanetti v. Superior Court of Puerto Rico
Piovanetti v. Superior Court of Puerto Rico
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The intervener, Félix Maldonado Rodriguez, bought an apartment house in Miramar, suburb of Santurce, Puerto Rico, one of which apartments on the ground floor was leased by the former owner to petitioners Domingo Piovanettí and Maria Luisa Piovanettí and devoted by the latter to a boardinghouse. As soon as intervener acquired said property, he requested the petitioners in writing to vacate the apartment because he wished to occupy it as a dwelling for himself and his family. The petitioners having refused to vacate the apartment, the intervener filed against them an unlawful detainer proceeding in the District Court of Puerto Rico, Civil Section of San Juan Part, alleging: “That plaintiff bought said property prior to the filing of this complaint for the purpose of using it in good faith, as the dwelling of his family and himself . . . That in order to prepare the apartment wholly suitable for a dwelling for his family and himself, in good faith, plaintiff requested defendants, in writing, with'a copy to the Economic Stabilization Administration, six months ago to vacate the part of the dwelling occupied by them and leave it at plaintiff’s free disposal and, notwithstanding said request to vacate, defendants continue occupying wrongfully the’ Use of the premises as a dwelling . . . That plaintiff, in good faith, needs the part of the dwelling that defendants occupy and wrongfully withhold.”
The petitioners answered denying the facts alleged and set forth the following affirmative defenses: “Third: Plain
The case having been set for October 2, 1962,- the parties appeared and plaintiff, now intervener, in accordance with the statement of the case prepared by the trial judge, introduced the following evidence: The intervener testified “that the ground floor of said property, for it is a two-story building, is leased .to defendant Domingo Piovanetti. On
In accordance with the. statement of the case, the second testimony offered in favor of the plaintiff, is the testimony of his wife, Carmen Maria Roche de Maldonado, who testifies that “she lives at 710 Hoare Street, Santurce, since August 22, 1962.” She lives on the second floor of said building. She says that a family named Velázquez, that is, Ramona Ve-lázquez, lives on the ground floor. She further testifies that Mrs. Colón has two children. She (the witness) has looked after them. The girl is thirteen years old and the boy ten. Mrs. Colón works in the National City Bank. The witness looks after the children. The witness testifies that they bought said property for their own use, for themselves. They bought it for whatever purposes they deem convenient for their own business. That she claims it in good faith without any prejudice whatsoever. The third testimony in favor of the plaintiff is Esther Colon’s testimony, who states: “That she lives at 710 Hoare Street, Santurce, at the house of the Maldona-dos. The witness says that she has worked in the National City Bank for 19 years. She has two children, a girl 13 and a boy 10. Carmen Roche looks after them. She does not pay any rent whatsoever to Maldonado. She pays her something for taking care of her children. She has known Maldonado for
In view of said evidence, the trial judge dismissed the complaint, and made the following findings: “The plaintiff, intervener herein, is the owner of other buildings situated and located in the metropolitan area which are devoted to dwellings. Plaintiff has not attempted to evict the tenants living in said buildings . . . Plaintiff was not able to prove that he was interested, in good faith, in recovering the possession of the property occupied by defendants to devote it to residential purposes for his family and himself, but rather tended to establish that defendants have subleased part of the premises sued notwithstanding the fact that it is not the ground for unlawful detainer alleged in the complaint ... The complaint has been filed in bad faith . . . Good faith on the part of plaintiff in recovering the possession of the property to devote it to dwelling purposes for his family and himself, must be satisfactorily proved in order that unlawful detainer may prosper. In this case the court decides that plaintiff did not establish the essential elements of the
Having filed a petition for review in the Superior Court, San Juan Part, the latter court reversed the judgment rendered on the following grounds: “The only controversy in this case is the question of good faith. Plaintiff is the owner of the property; he and his family occupy part of it; on acquiring it he requested that it be vacated; he granted tenant the term of six months and there was no substantial controversy as to the good faith. There is no reasonable cause for doubting (a) the witnesses for the plaintiff whose testimonies have not been contradicted. No other circumstances exist indicative of bad faith. Good faith is not presumed and the weight of the evidence as to his good-faith falls on plaintiff. There is nothing to show fraud, collusion or deceit on plaintiff’s part. Good faith having been supported by the evidence nothing has destroyed it.”
In their petition before us, the petitioners assign three errors: Only two merit consideration. First: The respondent court erred in deciding in its judgment that plaintiff’s evidence had sustained the good faith invoked in the complaint, and that there was no substantial controversy as to good faith. Second: The respondent court erred in holding that the sole controversy in the case is the question of good faith.
The law applicable thereto are §§12 and 12-A of the Reasonable Rents Act of Puerto Rico insofar as they provide: “Regardless of the date of construction or occupancy of both dwellings and business premises, and irrespective of any change of landlord or nominal lessor, the lease contract shall, on the day of expiration agreed upon therein, be compulsorily extended by the lessor at the option of the tenant or lessee, without altering any of the clauses thereof, all of which shall be deemed in force. The foregoing is applicable both to written and oral contracts and the extension shall be understood for the terms fixed by section 1471 of the. Civil
■ “As exceptions to the provisions of the preceding section, the lessor may refuse the extension of the lease contract and, consequently, commence unlawful detainer proceedings only in the following cases: ... 6. Whenever he needs in good faith the dwelling, or part thereof, for his personal use and immediate occupancy as a place of residence, (a) The lessor shall be obliged to accredit his good faith and his need of recovering the dwelling, and it shall be presumed that the same have not been accredited, without prejudice to others, in the following cases: (1) When the lessor has available in the same locality another adequate dwelling of his own where he may establish his residence. (2) When, being domiciled in an adequate dwelling in the same locality, he is not compelled to vacate same for reasons beyond his control. (3) When at any time during the six months prior to the notice of ejectment referred to in paragraph 6(b) of this section, a dwelling of similar characteristics was vacated in a building the property of the lessor and he has not, without just cause therefor, devoted it to his own residence. (4) When during the year prior to the said notice of ejectment the lessor has sold, assigned, or leased a dwelling of his own where he resided, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court that at the time of such transaction circumstances were such that there was no reason for him to believe that he would have the necessity of occupying the dwelling which he is now trying to recover, due to his having vacated the one which he occupied.”
1-2 There is no doubt that the burden is on plaintiff to prove his good faith in an action of unlawful detainer: Roselló Hnos. v. Figueroa, 78 P.R.R. 250, 258, 260 (Belaval) (1955), aff’d, Roselló Hnos. Inc. v. Figueroa, 233 F.2d 248, 250 (Maris) (1956). For said reason the trial judge of the District Court decided that plaintiff in the action of unlawful
However, on cross-examination other important facts were established: That plaintiff in unlawful detainer lives in the same building in a five-room apartment; he is not bound to vacate said premises because they belong to him. The main reason why he wants to evict the tenant is because three of the five rooms of the dwelling are occupied with furniture, we do not know whether they belong to his household, or furniture to establish a boarding house similar to Piova-netti’s. That he has other houses leased in the same urban section.
The trial judge was right in deciding, as to said facts, that plaintiff’s good faith had not been proved. Considering all the circumstances of the case, they do not present the legal situation provided in § 12-A(6) (a) of Act No. 464 of April 25, 1946, as amended by Act No. 201 of May 14, 1948.
The Superior Court of Puerto Rico, no doubt, impressed by the fact that defendants introduced no evidence whatsoever, considered plaintiff’s good faith proved. An examination of the evidence shows that such decision is erroneous, for on cross-examination plaintiff established, with his own testimony, the circumstances which disprove the claim of good faith.
The judgment rendered on December 5, 1962 by the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Part, will be reversed and the judgment rendered on October 5, 1962 by the District Court of Puerto Rico, Civil Section of San Juan Part will be left in full force and effect.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.