Pardell v. Bartolome (Joan) November 18, 1912 RICARDO PARDELL Y CRUZ and VICENTA ORTIZ Y FELIN DE PARDELL, plaintiffs-appellees, vs. GASPAR DE BARTOLOME Y ESCRIBANO and MATILDE ORTIZ Y FELIN DE BARTOLOME Torres, J.: DOCTRINE: Each co-owner of realty held pro indiviso exercises his rights over the whole property and may use and enjoy the same with no other limitation than that he shall not injure the interests of his coowners, coowners, for the reason that, until a division be made, the respective part of each holder can not be determined and every one of the coowners exercises together with his other coparticipants, joint ownership over the pro indiviso property, in addition to his use and enjoyment of the same. FACTS:
Sps Ricardo Pardell y Cruz (was in Spain for employment) employment) and Vicenta Ortiz Ortiz y Felin de Pardell, Pardell, through their counsel, filed a complaint, against Matilde and Gaspar Bartolome: to restore restore and deliver to the Pardells Pardells ½ of the undivided property (approximately (approximately to to P3,498), P3,498), o or, if deemed deemed proper, to recognize recognize the Vicenta Vicenta Ortiz to be vested vested with the full and absolute right of o ownership to the said undivided one-half of the properties in question, as universal testamentary heir together with the defendant Matilde Ortiz, to indemnify in the sum of P8,000, for for losses and damages, and to pay the costs. o Vicenta Ortiz alleged that: She and Matilde Matilde Ortiz are natural daughters daughters of Sps. Sps. Miguel Ortiz Ortiz and Calixta Calixta Felin y Paula who o died in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, in 1875 and 1882, respectively; respectively; Calixta Felin, prior to her death, executed executed a nuncupative nuncupative will in Vigan, whereby whereby she made her four o children, named Manuel, Francisca, Vicenta, and Matilde, her sole and universal heirs of all her property; Of the persons children, Manuel died before his mother mother and Francisca a few years years after her death, o leaving Vicenta Ortiz and Matilde Ortiz aside from some personal personal property and jewelry already divided, divided, the Calixta Calixta possessed, at the time o of the execution of her will, and left at her death the real properties: House of strong material, with lot (Escalante Street, Vigan, P6K) House of mixed mixed material, with lot (No. 88 Washington Street, Vigan 1,500.00) Lot (Magallanes Street, Vigan, 100.00) Parcel of rice land (San Julian, Vigan, 60.00) Parcel of rice land (in the pueblo of Santa Lucia, 86.00) Three parcels of land (in the pueblo of Candon, 150.00) Total: 7,896. First months months of 1888: Matilde Matilde and husband Gaspar Gaspar Bartolome, without judicial judicial authorization, authorization, nor nor o friendly or extrajudicial agreement, took upon themselves the administration and enjoyment of the said properties and collected the rents, fruits, and products thereof, to the serious detriment of the plaintiffs' interest; Matilde and Gaspar had been delaying the partition and delivery of the said properties by means of o unkempt promises and other excuses; Vicenta, then, had suffered losses and damages damages in in the the sum of P8,000. o Bartolome spouses denied the facts and claimed that: upon the death of brother Manuel, their mother, who was still living, living, was his heir by force of law, o they had never refused to give to Vicenta her share o factual errors: errors: the surname of the defendant's defendant's mother mother was Felin, and not Felix,Miguel Felix,Miguel Ortiz Ortiz died in o Spain, and not in Vigan; They occupied occupied the upper story, story, designed for use as a dwelling, in the house of joint ownership; o jewelry was in the possession of the Vicenta and was was undivided: undivided: o one Lozada Lozada gold chronometer watch with a chain in the form of a bridle curb a watch charm consisting consisting of the engraving of a postage stamp on a stone mounted in in gold and bearing the initials M.O., a pair of cuff buttons made of gold coins, four small gold buttons, two finger rings, another with the initials M.O., a gold bracelet; they were willing to deliver to Vicenta one-half one-half of the total value in cash, according according to appraisement, o of the undivided real p roperties (P3,948) Answers and counterclaims counterclaims were filed. filed. (Sobrang haba ng allegations, summary na lang).
Vicenta claims that she never refused to divide the said property and had in fact several years before solicited the partition of the same; Bartolomes claim that Pardells were obliged to pay to the administrator (Gaspar) of the property the o remuneration allowed him by law and that, as the revenues they collected amounted to no more than P3,654.15, and the expenditures incurred by them, to P6,252.32, it followed that Vicenta owed them P1,299.08, that is, one-half of the difference between the amount collected from and that expended on the properties, Lower court ruled: Pardells were entitled to acquire, at the valuation determined by the said expert appraiser, the o building known as La Quinta, the lot on which it stands and the warehouses and other improvements comprised within the inclosed land, and the seed lands situated in the pueblos of Vigan and Santa Lucia; Bartolomes were entitled to acquire the house on Calle Escolta, the lot on Calle Magallanes, and o the three parcels of land situated in the pueblo of Candon. Bartolomes clarified that: having petitioned for the appraisement of the properties for the purpose of their partition, it was not o to be understood that he desisted from the exception duly entered to the ruling made in the matter of the amendment to t he complaint; properties retained by the defendants were valued at P9,310, and those retained by the plaintiffs, at o P2,885, one-half of which amounts each party had to deliver to the other, as they were pro indiviso properties; that, therefore, the defendants had to pay the plaintiffs the sum of P3,212.50, after deducting the amount which the plaintiffs were obliged to deliver to the defendants, as one-half of the price of the properties retained by the former; notwithstanding that the amount of the counterclaim for the expenses incurred in the reconstruction o of the pro indiviso property should be deducted from the sum which the defendants had to pay the plaintiffs, the former, for the purpose of bringing the matter of the partition to a close, would deliver to the latter, immediately upon the signing of the instrument of purchase and sale, the sum of P3,212.50, which was one-half of the value of the properties allotted to the defendants; such delivery, however, was not to be understood as a renouncement of the said counterclaim, but only as a means for the final termination of the pro indiviso status of the property. Lower court: the revenues and the expenses were compensated by the residence enjoyed by the defendant party: no losses or damages were either caused or suffered, nor likewise any other expense besides o those aforementioned, and absolved the defendants from the complaint and the plaintiffs from the counterclaim, with no special finding as to costs.. the revenues and the expenses were compensated, in view of the fact that the defendants had o been living for several years in the Calle Escolta house, which was pro indiviso property of joint ownership. o
ISSUES: 1. Whether or not Vicenta can claim indemnity because her interest were injured by Matilde: 2. Whether or not Vicenta can claim indemnity because Gaspar occupied part of the lower floor as office space 3. Whether or not the counterclaim of Matilde should be granted 4. Whether or not Gaspar, as administrator, is entitled to remuneration 5. Whether or not the jewelry is rightfully owned by Vicenta 6. Whether or not the counterclaim for the difference between the assessed value and the appraised value by the judicial expert should prosper HELD: 1. NO. Matilde, in occupying with her husband the upper floor of the said house, did not injure the interests of her coowner, her sister Vicenta, nor did she prevent the latter from living therein, but merely exercised a legitimate right pertaining to her as a coowner of the property 2. Yes. 3. Yes, but reduced. 4. No. He acted in his own accord. He is only entitled to actual and necessary expenditures. 5. Yes. No evidence to the contrary. 6. No.
RATIO: (SC notes: Notwithstanding the acquiescence of the Pardells, it is imperative to determine whether Matilde Ortiz, as coowner of the house on Calle Escolta, was entitled, with her husband, to reside therein, without paying to her
coowner, Vicenta Ortiz, who, during the greater part of the time, lived with her husband abroad, one-half of the rents which the upper story would have produced, h a d i t b e e n r e n t e d t o a s t r a n g e r . ) 1.
Article 394 of the Civil Code prescribes: "Each co-owner may use the things owned in common, provided he uses them in accordance with their object and in such manner as n ot to injure the interests of the community nor prevent the coowners from utilizing them according to their rights." a. The record shows no proof that Matilde occasioned any detriment to the interests of the community property, nor that she prevented her sister Vicenta from utilizing the said upper story according to her rights. It is to be noted that the stores of the lower floor were rented and an accounting of the rents was duly made to the plaintiffs. b. Each coowner of realty held pro indiviso exercises his rights over the whole property and may use and enjoy the same with no other limitation than that he shall not injure the interests of his coowners, for the reason that, until a division be made, the respective part of each holder can not be determined and every one of the coowners exercises together with his other coparticipants, joint ownership over the pro indiviso property, in addition to his use and enjoyment of the same. c. Matilde and Gaspar are not obliged to pay one-half of the rents which could have been obtained from the upper story of the said house: The Pardells were in Spain. Thus, it is not at all strange that delays and difficulties should have attended the efforts made to collect the rents and proceeds from the property held in common and to obtain a partition of the latter, especially during several years when, owing to the insurrection, the country was in a turmoil; and for this reason, aside from that founded on the right of coownership of the defendants, who took upon themselves the administration and care of the property of joint tenancy for purposes of their preservation and improvement, these latter are not obliged to pay Vicenta one-half of the rents which might have been derived from the upper story of the said house on Calle Escolta, and, much less, because one of the living rooms and the storeroom thereof were used for the storage of some belongings and effects of common ownership between the litigants..
2.
The record shows that Matilde's husband, Gaspar de Bartolome, occupied for four years a room or a part of the lower floor of the same house on Calle Escolta, using it as an office for the justice of the peace , a position which he held in the capital of that province. a. Strict justice requires that he pay his sister-in-law, the plaintiff, one-half of the monthly rent which the said quarters could have produced, had they been leased to another person (P16). This conclusion as to Bartolome's liability results from the fact that, even as the husband of the defendant coowner of the property, he had no right to occupy and use gratuitously the said part of the lower floor of the house in question, where he lived with his wife, to the detriment of the plaintiff Vicenta who did not receive one-half of the rent which those quarters could and should have produced, had they been occupied by a stranger , in the same manner that rent was obtained from the rooms on the lower floor that were used as stores. Therefore, the defendant Bartolome must pay to the plaintiff Vicenta P384, that is, one-half of P768 ( total for 4 years.).
3.
Vicenta to pay a balance of the one-half of the amount which Matilde and Gaspar advanced for the reconstruction or repair of the Calle Escolta house , after deducting from the total of such sum claimed by the latter the amount of P384 which Gaspar de Bartolome, the husband of the defendant Matilde, should have paid as one-half of the rents due for his occupation of the quarters on the lower floor of the said house as an office for the justice of the peace court of Vigan; a. There was an earthquake which left the property in Calle Escolata in ruins and uninhabitable. For its reconstruction or repair, Matilde had to expend money. This repair cost must be offset with the rent due Vicenta. Thus, the counterclaim made, is a proper demand, though form the sum of P1299, a reduction must be made of P384, the amount of one-half of the rents which should have been collected for the use of the quarters occupied by the justice of the peace, the payment of which is incumbent upon the husband of Matilde. The balance remaining, P915, is the amount which Vicenta must pay. No legal interest on counterclaim until final disposal of the case.
4.
Gaspar is not entitled to any remuneration for the administration of the pro indiviso property belonging to both parties: Inasmuch as no stipulation whatever was made in the matter by and between him and his sister-in-law, Gaspar is not entitled to the payment of any remuneration whatsoever. Of his own accord and as an officious manager, he administered the said pro indiviso property, one-half of which belonged to his wife who held it in joint tenancy, with his sister-in-law, and the law does not allow him any compensation as such voluntary administrator. He is merely entitled to a reimbursement for such actual
and necessary expenditures as he may have made on the undivided properties and an indemnity for the damages he may have suffered while acting in that capacity, since at all events it was his duty to care for and preserve the said property half of which belonged to his wife; and in exchange for the trouble and labor occasioned him by the administration of his sister-in-law's half of the said property, he with his wife resided in the upper story of the house, without payment of one-half of the rents which the quarters might have produced had they been leased to another person. 5.
No partition shall be made of certain jewelry in the possession of Vicenta Ortiz: It was not shown that the allegation made by Vicenta is not true, to the effect that the deceased mother of the litigant sisters disposed of this jewelry during her lifetime, because, had she not done so, the will made by the said deceased would have been exhibited in which the said jewelry would have been mentioned.
6.
Gaspar is neither entitled to collect from the plaintiffs the sum of P910.50, the difference between the assessed valuation and the price set by the expert appraisal solicited by the plaintiffs in their amendment to the complaint: Assessed value vs. price determined by judicial appraiser: it is improper now to claim a right to the collection of whatever difference between the assessed value and that fixed by the judicial expert appraiser because the increase in price, as determined by this latter appraisal, redounded to the benefit of both parties.
DISPOSITIVE PORTION: The said judgment, as relates to the points appealed, is affirmed, in so far as its findings agree with those of this decision, and is reversed, in so far as they do not. No special finding is made regarding the costs of both instances. So ordered.
