Case Name: The Municipal Council of Manatí v. the Secretary of Porto Rico
Court: Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
Jurisdiction: Puerto Rico
Decision Date: 1903-06-27
Citations: 4 P.R. 141
Docket Number: No. 39
Parties: The Municipal Council of Manatí v. the Secretary of Porto Rico.
Judges: Chief Justice Quiñones, and Justices Hernández and Fi-gueras concurred.
Reporter: Puerto Rico Reports
Volume: 4
Pages: 141–147

Head Matter:
The Municipal Council of Manatí v. the Secretary of Porto Rico.
Appeal from the District Court of San Juan.
No. 39.
Decided June 27, 1903.
Injunction. — The plaintiff applied for a writ of injunction against the Secretary of Porto Rico, restraining him from taking cognizance of a certain ease referring to taxes collected hy said plaintiff, the restitution whereof had heen ordered by the Secretary while a litigative-administrative appeal was pending, which the plaintiff declared had been taken from the decision ordering the return of aforesaid taxes. Held: That sufficient grounds were not stated in aforesaid application to justify the issuing of the writ of injunction applied for.
STATEMENT OP THE CASE.
Oil March 19, 1903, the Municipal Council of Manatí, through Juan R. Ramos, Esq., filed a petition in the District Court of San Juan, requesting the court to issue a writ of injunction against the Secretary of Porto Rico, restraining him from taking further cognizance of a case relative to certain municipal taxes collected by aforesaid municipality from Wenceslao Borda, and await the decision of the proper court on a litigative-administrative appeal taken by said municipality from the decision of the Secretary directing the restitution of the above mentioned taxes. A temporary injunction haying been issued, the Secretary of Porto Rico appeared and alleged that no appeal had been taken from the decision relative to the restitution of the taxes to Borda, and prayed that the petition for a writ of injunction be denied because the facts upon which the same was based were untrue.
On March 24 the hearing was had, when the Municipal ' Council of Manatí and the Secretary of Porto Rico appeared through their respestive counsel and made such allegations as by them where deemed proper. The District Court by "an order of April 20, 1903, denied the injunction applied for and directed that the temporary injunction previously issued against the Secretary of Porto Rico, be dissolved. From this decision the representative of the Municipal Council of Manatí took an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Juan R. Ramos, for appellant.
Mr. del Toro, Fiscal, for respondent.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice MacLeary,
delivered the opinion of the Court.
In the appeal pending before us taken by the representative of the Municipal Council of Manatí, from a decision of the District Court of San Juan, rendered in injunction proceedings instituted against the Secretary of Porto Rico, the said Municipal Council entered an appearance before this Supreme Court through Juan R. Ramos Esq., praying for the reversal of the order made by said District Court, which literally reads:
"In the District Court of San Juan. The Municipal Council of Manatí v. The Secretary of Porto Rico. Ifitigative-Administrative action. San Juan, P. R., April twentieth, one thousand nine hundred and three. There came on for consideration a petition filed by Juan R. Ramos on behalf of the Municipal Council of Manatí, dated March 19, 1903, and a bond execut ed by José Manuel Batista and Arturo Cortés bearing the same date, together with the orders of March 20 and 21, of the same year, signed by Judge Richmond and the answer of the Secretary of Porto Rico, sworn to on March 24, the allegations of the parties being heard on the last day mentioned, Assistant Attorney General, Emilio del Toro, appearing on behalf of the Secretary of Porto Rico. The order of ¡the court of the same date was read directing that the testimony of Isidoro Delgado, interpreter of the court, and of Manuel Moraza, ex-court official, be taken, which was done, said testimony fiieing duly entered by the clerk; copies of the letters of the Secretary of Porto Rico, dated February 3 and 28, 1902, and the resolutions of the Municipal Council of Manatí, dated February 3 and 10, and March 5, of the same year, were also read, which copies were all presented by counsel for the Municipal Council of Manatí and accepted by the court as authentic; the writing filed by Ramos on March 26, and the one presented and signed by the Attorney General on the 28th of the same month being likewise read. The court, after due consideration of the foregoing and of the decision arrived at in view thereof, on motion of the Fiscal representing the Secretary of Porto Rico, dismisses the petition of March 19, in all its parts; denies the writ of injunction applied for, and orders that the temporary injunction issued in the matter against the Secretary of Porto Rico be dissolved. Thus it was decided and signed by the court, to which I, the clerk, do certify. — Juan Morera Martinez. — Frank H. Richmond. — José Tous Soto. — Luis Mendez Vas." ,
Notice of the foregoing order having been served upon the parties concerned, plaintiff took an appeal therefrom, which was allowed; and the parties being duly summoned, the papers where forwarded to this court, where the appellant duly appeared and was afforded an opportunity to examine the record, as also the Fiscal who opposed the appeal.
A day was set for the hearing on appeal, which took place on the 26th instant, when the parties made such arguments as they deemed favorable to their rights.
All the findings of fact and conclusions of law contained in the order appealed from are accepted, and in view of the legal provisions cited therein, and others, we hold that in this order the aforesaid District Court bas committed no error and that plaintiff's application presents no ground for a writ of injunction against the Secretary of Porto'Rico.
We therefore adjudge that we should affirm, and do affirm, the order entered by the District Court of San Juan on April 20, 1903, in the present case, with costs against appellant.
Chief Justice Quiñones, and Justices Hernández and Fi-gueras concurred.
Mr. Justice Sulzbaeher did not sit at the hearing of this case.