- Petitioner
- Macaria Asuncion
- Respondent
- Manuel Nieto
- Citation
- G.R. No. 1429
- Court
- Supreme Court En Banc
- Division
- En Banc
- Ponente
- Torres, J.
- Decided
- December 3, 1904
Summary
This landmark 1904 case established that mortgage foreclosure actions cannot proceed against deceased debtors without proper service on their legal representatives. Manuel Nieto, as assignee of a mortgage credit, sued Felipe Llopis in 1902 for foreclosure, unaware that Llopis had died in 1883. After obtaining a default judgment and executing on the property for 10,000 pesos, the debtor's widow and children successfully moved to nullify the proceedings. The Supreme Court affirmed, ruling that actions against deceased persons without summoning administrators or legal representatives violate fundamental procedural due process requirements under the Code of Civil Procedure, rendering the entire proceeding null and void despite the validity of the underlying mortgage debt. The case emphasizes creditors' duty to exercise reasonable diligence in ascertaining debtors' status before commencing legal actions.