Figueroa Rodríguez v. Feliciano Ramos
Figueroa Rodríguez v. Feliciano Ramos
Opinion of the Court
On account of a collision between appellee’s Mustang vehicle, driven by her, and a Chevrolet (beige) pickup, at a curve located at kilometer 6.3 of Highway No. 162 in the ward Barrio Nuevo of the municipality of Naranjito, appellee suffered injuries and loss of earnings, for which she filed a claim for damages against appellants Feli-ciano Ramos and Gaspar Berio. Appellants denied the facts concerning the accident. They admitted that Ramón Feliciano Ramos was appellant Gaspar Berio’s agent and employee, but they denied that he had such accident since he was, together with appellant Berio, attending to matters connected with his work, but not in the town of Naranjito.
The trial court concluded that the accident was due to the negligence of the driver of the said Chevrolet vehicle,
Appellant, Gaspar Berio, alleges that the trial court erred (1) in not dismissing the complaint against appellant once it was dismissed against Ramón Feliciano Ramos; and (2) in erroneously applying the doctrine of the corporate veil and holding appellant liable for actions of a corporation and its agents.
In support of said assignments, appellant argues that the trial court dismissed the complaint against Ramón Feli-ciano Ramos in open court, since the latter was not driving the Chevrolet vehicle at the time of the accident, but was driving the described vehicle in another distant town;.that the evidence only showed that David Fuentes was an employee of Gaspar Berio, Inc.; that he had traveled by the scene of the accident driving a similar vehicle property of said corporation; that the evidence did not show that Fuentes was the person who caused the accident in question, and that in any event, appellant cannot be held liable for the acts of a third person who was the agent and employee of a corporation, and not of appellant; that no evidence as to who were the shareholders of said corporation was introduced establishing that the same was “an alter ego or passive economic conduct or instrument of appellant.”
Let us see the evidence relative to .the identification of (1) the person who caused the accident in question; (2) the vehicle which the latter was driving at the. time of the accident; (3) the owner of said vehicle; and (4) the relation existing between said driver and the owner of the vehicle when the accident. occurred. ■
Victor Ortiz Bonilla, a collector of a business firm owned by appellee’s brother, testified that on the day of the accident he was going in an automobile behind appellee. He witnessed the collision when the Chevrolet swerved towards the lane along which appellee’s vehicle yras traveling. After taking
Ramón Feliciano Ramos testified that he was driving a pickup “panel delivery of Gaspar Berio, Inc., Billares Super-berher firm”; that he was engaged in delivering pool tables “and to collect the money of the ones he picked up”; that on the door of the pickup “a pool table” is painted, “then it says Superberher . . that on the tail of the box, “in some it says ‘Servicio’ and others ‘Billares’ ... on the back door of the pickup”; that when he was returning after office hours, he took the vehicle to appellant’s house; he did so on the day of the accident; that on the day of the accident he returned along the Military Highway as “he was coming from Arecibo towards here”; that he came through Hermanas Dávila and entered by the left side of Berio’s house; that on that day he went to Sabana Grande, Adjuntas, Arecibo, Barceloneta, and Florida, a ward of Barceloneta; that he did not stop in Naranjito; that the names of the clients whom he visited appear with their signatures on the “receipts of debit of the persons.” He was paid by the manager of Gaspar Berio, Inc., Julio Pérez. Asked by the trial judge whether Julio Pérez was the manager of Gaspar Berio, Inc., he answered: “Gas-par Berio, Inc. is not Inc., only Gaspar Berio.”
At plaintiff’s request, Gaspar Berio testified also. He said that he manufactured Superberher pool tables; that Feliciano Ramos worked for him as a driver; he described the signs of his vehicles in the same manner as the previous witness. When asked if on the day of the accident he had a Chevrolet vehicle, ’65 model, license ■ plate 118-761, he answered that “Chevrolet I have, I do not know the license plate.” Insofar as the model is concerned, he said that he has some from the years ’64, ’65, and ’66; that appellee went to
When witness Berio answered that Feliciano worked for Gaspar Berio, Inc., his counsel informed the court that “What happens is that defendant [Feliciano Ramos] works in two capacities; he works for Berio Distributors, which is nothing else but defendant [Gaspar Berio], and he works for the corporation.”
Appellee testified that she did not see who was driving the pickup, but that “I know that it was one person only, and he was wearing a blue shirt”; that first they went to the house of Nicasio Hernández (producer of Nicherber pool tables), who told them that the pickup belonged to Gaspar Berio. Then they went to the latter’s house and there they found the beige pickup, “the same of the accident. . . that it was still warm”; that Berio told her “if it is it, or one of mine, come tomorrow to the office”; that the pickup “had all my car’s paint.” She went to Berio’s office on the following day and said that “I come to investigate one of Berio’s drivers who was traveling around Naranjito and collided with my car”; that Berio’s secretary told her that he did not know him because he had been working there for only three days and did not know whom he was. On Melba Flores’ urging, appellee went away.
At the close of the hearing the trial court said that: “A strong indication appears herein that one of defendant’s vehicles was the one that caused the accident... I believe that it is duly established that the accident was produced by a Chevrolet vehicle belonging to the defendant, Gaspar Berio . . . the evidence that Feliciano was on a different, route which did not include Naranjito . . . relieves him from liability . . . it may be inferred from the evidence that the accident was with Gaspar Berio’s automobile and driven by David Fuentes, who was the one on the route precisely on the 29th....”
By virtue thereof, the judgment rendered in this case by the Superior Court, Bayamón Part, on August 27, 1968, will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.