Case Digest (G.R. No. 7729)
Facts:
Remigio Nicolas v. Gregorio Guerrero, G.R. No. 7729, September 14, 1912, the Supreme Court En Banc, Torres, J., writing for the Court.
Plaintiff-appellant Remigio Nicolas sued defendant-appellee Gregorio Guerrero in the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Norte on July 1, 1911, seeking recovery of possession of two irrigated parcels in Dingras, Ilocos Norte (San Lorenzo and San Magno de Ragas). Nicolas alleged that he had been owner and in peaceful possession since 1909 after purchasing the parcels (a sale said to have been effected May 15, 1909), that Guerrero had recently appropriated and cultivated them, and that Nicolas had suffered P200 in damages; he prayed for immediate delivery, an injunction against future dispossession, damages, and costs.
Guerrero answered with general and specific denials and pleaded that he had purchased the lands from Joaquin de Castro; he counterclaimed for P500 damages and asked that Castro be summoned for warranty of title. Joaquin de Castro appeared and by writing (July 31, 1911) denied Nicolas's allegations, averred he had been owner and had sold the lands to Guerrero on April 26, 1911, and counterclaimed for P100 for malicious prosecution.
After trial with oral and documentary evidence, the Court of First Instance, on September 29, 1911, rendered judgment absolving Guerrero from the complaint and taxed costs against Nicolas. Nicolas filed a motion for annulment and for new trial on October 9, 1911; the motion was overruled on October 16, 1911. Nicolas excepted, had the bill of exceptions approved, certified and transmitted to the Supreme Court, and the case reached the Supreme Court by appeal on the record of exceptions.
At trial the parties disputed a written deed of sale alleged by Nicolas (said to have been executed May 15, 1909) which he failed to produce, claiming it had been lost when his pocketbook was carried away by a river flood. Witnesses and documentary proofs introduced by Guerrero tended to show (1) Guerrero had held the lands earlier only as creditor-pledgee and did not acquire ownership until April 26, 1911 when Castro sold to him; (2) Guerrero was absent in Abra from May 4 to May 27, 1909, undermining Nicolas's claim that...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the plaintiff-appellant, Remigio Nicolas, prove ownership of the two parcels by establishing the alleged May 15, 1909 sale and thereby entitle himself to recovery?
- Was the defendant-appellee, Gregorio Guerrero, properly absolved from the complaint and entitled to costs based on proof that he was the legitimate owner and that Nicolas failed to...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)