Source: https://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/235/251/case.php
Timestamp: 2020-08-08 08:11:51
Document Index: 154876906

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1804', '§ 1804', '§ 1803', '§ 1804', '§ 1803', '§ 1869', '§ 1804', '§ 1803', '§ 1869']

An action against the government of Porto Rico for the wrongful act of chanrobles.com-red
This action was commenced July 23, 1908, in the United States District Court for Porto Rico by Pierre Emmannuel, Baron du Laurens d'Oiselay, a citizen of the Republic of France and a resident thereof, against the People of Porto Rico. His complaint alleged that he was the owner of an estate composed of 4,133 cuerdas of land situate in the municipality of Lares, acquired by him as a legacy from the Duchess de Mahon Crillon, who died in France in April, 1899; that, until the year of her death, the Duchess had been paying the taxes and receiving from her colonists a considerable annual income; that, on September 4, 1900, the defendant, through the Treasurer of Porto Rico, decided that said property belonged to the Treasury of Porto Rico, and ordered, among other things, that the Duchess chanrobles.com-red
that, in view of this action, plaintiff, after having vainly tried to obtain satisfaction from defendant, was obliged to establish the validity of his titles before the courts; that he instituted a suit in the District Court of San Juan on January 30, 1901, against the defendant, and that court on August 1, 1902, decided that the lands referred to were the property of plaintiff, and ordered that the inscription made in the registry in the name of the Porto Rico be cancelled; that the People took an appeal to the Supreme Court of Porto Rico, and that court affirmed the decisions and confirmed the findings of the district court by its opinion of May 23, 1904 (2 Castro P.R. Dec. 103; 7 P.R. 216); that, after the question of title was decided, the People of Porto Rico did nothing to put plaintiff in possession of the property, the colonists were not willing to again pay rents to him, and he was obliged to resort to the courts to be put in possession of the lands; that, by such litigation, he did obtain possession, but that he was entitled to recover from defendant the fruits of which he had been deprived by defendant's action from the time he was unjustly deprived of his ownership until his property was delivered back to him, the period mentioned being from September 1900, to December 1905. chanrobles.com-red
The motion to dismiss is based upon the further ground that the case, being an action at law, should have been brought to this Court by writ of error, and not by appeal. But the provisions of the Act of 1874, above mentioned, chanrobles.com-red
Coming to the merits, the facts certified are as follows: in the year 1900, shortly after the American occupation of Porto Rico, the then treasurer of the Island, Mr. J. H. Hollander, reached the conclusion that the land in question did not belong to plaintiff, who claimed to have inherited it from the Duchess de Mahon Crillon of France, but was public property, and he therefore, as Treasurer, caused the tenants living upon the land to be so notified and the property to be registered in the registry of property as belonging to the People of Porto Rico. Plaintiff protested vigorously against this, but without immediate result. In a short time, however, he produced such evidence of title to Mr. Hollander that the latter wrote him that he had better begin a suit against the People of Porto Rico and have the matter judicially determined. Plaintiff did file such a suit in the District Court at San Juan. The Attorney General of the Island and his assistant appeared and contested the action, but the decision was for the plaintiff. The Attorney General, on the part of the People, took an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Island, and that court, in June, 1904, decided in favor of the plaintiff, affirming the decision of the lower court. 2 Castro P.R.Dec. 103; 7 P.R. 216. From the time Mr. Hollander registered the property in the name of the People of Porto Rico until plaintiff was again put in possession of the land in the latter part of the year 1905, the tenants refused to pay rent to plaintiff, and the entire sum was lost to him except a few hundred pesos which he managed to collect after much expensive litigation against the tenants. The court found that Mr. Hollander was a special agent of the state for the purpose of the transactions in question, within the meaning of § 1804 of the chanrobles.com-red
We have recently decided that the government of Porto Rico is of such nature as to come within the general rule exempting a government, sovereign in its attributes, from being sued without its consent (Porto Rico v. Rosaly, 227 U. S. 270). Upon the face of the present record, it may be doubtful whether defendant fairly raised in the pleadings the question of its general immunity from action, or whether, on the other hand, its pleadings, construed as a whole, did not rather amount to a consent to litigate the merits. But, upon the facts as pleaded and found, we think the learned judge of the district court very properly held that, if plaintiff can legally recover, it must be by virtue of § 1804 of the Civil Code, which is cited also chanrobles.com-red
as manifesting the government's consent to be sued. The section must be read together with § 1803, with which it is inseparably connected. Both are set forth in the margin. * chanrobles.com-red
It seems to us clear that an action against the state, based upon the pertinent clause of § 1804, is an action to demand civil liability "for obligations arising from the fault or negligence mentioned in § 1803," within the meaning of § 1869. Section 1804, by its very terms, imposes upon the principal, with respect to the acts of the representative, not any different obligation, but the same obligation imposed by the preceding section. We say this notwithstanding the somewhat peculiar form of expression in that part of § 1804 which exempts the state from liability when the damage is caused by the official to whom properly it pertained to do the act performed, viz. the clause, "in which case the provisions of the preceding section shall be applicable." This cannot reasonably be interpreted as excluding the liability of the state under § 1803 in other cases, but is evidently intended to impose upon the official himself, in respect to damages chanrobles.com-red
Counsel for appellee has not suggested any ground for avoiding the prescription -- indeed, has made no argument upon the subject. We deem it clear that § 1869 applies, and that the action is therefore prescribed, and it follows that the judgment must be reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion. chanrobles.com-red