Professional Documents
Culture Documents
P
25,000.00
as
moral
damages
P 672.00 for Clark Field Hospital (Exh. E)
P 4,384.00 paid to Angeles Medical Clinic (Exhs. D, D-1
and
D-2)
P 1,555.00 paid to St. Francis Medical Center (Exhs. B
and B-1)
P
25,000.00
as
moral
damages
P 1,055.00 paid to St. Francis Medical Center (Exhs. G
and
G-1)
P 75.00 paid to St. Francis Medical Center (Exhs. G-2
and
G-3)
P 428.00 to Carmelite General Hospital (Exh. F)
P 114.20 to Muoz Clinic (Exh. MM)
P
10,000.00
as
moral
damages
P 1,231.10 to St. Francis Medical Center (Exhs. L and
L-1)
P 321.95 to F.C.E.A. Hospital (Exhs. G and D-1)
In addition, We award P10,000.00 as counsel (sic) fees
in Civil Case No. 4477 and another P10,000.00; as
counsel (sic) fees in Civil Case No. 4478.
No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
26
35
which they
48
We held:
We held:
58
We
MARGARITA
AFIALDA, plaintiff-appellant,
vs.
BASILIO
HISOLE
and
FRANCISCO
HISOLE, defendants-appellees.
Nicolas
P.
Nonato
for
Gellada, Mirasol and Ravena for appellees.
appellant.
REYES, J.:
This is an action for damages arising from injury
caused by an animal. The complaint alleges that the
now deceased, Loreto Afialda, was employed by the
defendant spouses as caretaker of their carabaos at a
fixed compensation; that while tending the animals he
was, on March 21, 1947, gored by one of them and
later died as a consequence of his injuries; that the
mishap was due neither to his own fault nor to force
majeure; and that plaintiff is his elder sister and heir
depending upon him for support.
Before filing their answer, defendants moved for the
dismissal of the complaint for lack of a cause of action,
and the motion having been granted by the lower
court, plaintiff has taken this appeal.
Plaintiff seeks to hold defendants liable under article
1905 of the Civil Code, which reads:
The possessor of an animal, or the one who
uses the same, is liable for any damages it
may cause, even if such animal should escape
from him or stray away.
This liability shall cease only in case, the
damage should arise from force majeure or
from the fault of the person who may have
suffered it.
The question presented is whether the owner of the
animal is liable when damage is caused to its
caretaker.
The lower court took the view that under the abovequoted provision of the Civil Code, the owner of an
animal is answerable only for damages caused to a
stranger, and that for damage caused to the caretaker
of the animal the owner would be liable only if he had
been negligent or at fault under article 1902 of the
same code. Claiming that the lower court was in error,
counsel for plaintiff contends that the article 1905 does
REGALADO, J.:
This case had its inception in an action for damages
instituted in the former Court of First Instance of
Negros Occidental 1 by private respondent spouses
against petitioner Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Company (PLDT, for brevity) for the injuries they
sustained in the evening of July 30, 1968 when their
jeep ran over a mound of earth and fell into an open
trench, an excavation allegedly undertaken by PLDT for
the installation of its underground conduit system. The
complaint alleged that respondent Antonio Esteban
failed to notice the open trench which was left
uncovered because of the creeping darkness and the
lack of any warning light or signs. As a result of the
accident,
respondent
Gloria
Esteban
allegedly
sustained injuries on her arms, legs and face, leaving a
permanent scar on her cheek, while the respondent
husband suffered cut lips. In addition, the windshield
of the jeep was shattered. 2
PLDT, in its answer, denies liability on the contention
that the injuries sustained by respondent spouses were
the result of their own negligence and that the entity
which should be held responsible, if at all, is L.R. Barte
and Company (Barte, for short), an independent
contractor which undertook the construction of the
manhole and the conduit system. 3 Accordingly, PLDT
filed a third-party complaint against Barte alleging
that, under the terms of their agreement, PLDT should
in no manner be answerable for any accident or
injuries arising from the negligence or carelessness of
Barte or any of its employees. 4 In answer thereto,
Barte claimed that it was not aware nor was it notified
of the accident involving respondent spouses and that
it had complied with the terms of its contract with
PLDT by installing the necessary and appropriate
standard signs in the vicinity of the work site, with
barricades at both ends of the excavation and with red
lights at night along the excavated area to warn the
traveling public of the presence of excavations. 5
PARAS, J.:
Sought to be reversed in this petition is the Decision *
of the respondent Court of Appeals' First Division,
setting aside the judgment of the then Court of First
Instance (CFI) of Ilocos Norte, with the following
dispositive portion:
WHEREFORE, the appealed judgment is
hereby set aside and another rendered
in its stead whereby defendant is
hereby sentenced to pay plaintiffs
actual
damages
of
P30,229.45;
compensatory damages of P50,000.00;
exemplary damages of P10,000.00;
attorney's fees of P3,000.00; plus the
costs of suit in both instances. (p. 27
Rollo)
Basically, this case involves a clash of evidence
whereby both patties strive for the recognition of their
respective versions of the scenario from which the
disputed claims originate. The respondent Court of
Appeals (CA) summarized the evidence of the parties
as follows:
From the evidence of plaintiffs it appears that in the
evening of June 28 until the early morning of June 29,
1967 a strong typhoon by the code name "Gening"
buffeted the province of Ilocos Norte, bringing heavy
rains and consequent flooding in its wake. Between
5:30 and 6:00 A.M. on June 29, 1967, after the
typhoon had abated and when the floodwaters were
SEVERINO
SALEN
and
SALBANERA, plaintiffs-appellants,
vs.
JOSE BALCE, defendant-appellee.
Marciano
C.
Dating,
Severino Balce for appellee.
Jr.
for
ELENA
appellants.
UNIVERSITY
OF
THE
vs.
ROMEO A. JADER, respondent.
EAST, petitioner,
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.:
May an educational institution be held liable for
damages for misleading a student into believing that
the latter had satisfied all the requirements for
graduation when such is not the case? This is the issue
in the instant petition for review premised on the
following undisputed facts as summarized by the trial
court and adopted by the Court of Appeals (CA), 1 to
wit:
Plaintiff was enrolled in the defendants' College
of Law from 1984 up to 1988. In the first
semester of his last year (School year 19871988), he failed to take the regular final
examination in Practice Court I for which he
was given an incomplete grade (Exhibits "2",
also Exhibit "H"). He enrolled for the second
semester as fourth year law student (Exhibit
"A") and on February 1, 1988 he filed an
application for the removal of the incomplete
grade given him by Professor Carlos Ortega
(Exhibits "H-2", also Exhibit "2") which was
approved by Dean Celedonio Tiongson after
payment of the required fee. He took the
examination on March 28, 1988. On May 30,
1988, Professor Carlos Ortega submitted his
grade. It was a grade of five (5). (Exhibits "H4", also Exhibits "2-L", "2-N").1wphi1.nt
In the meantime, the Dean and the Faculty
Members of the College of Law met to
deliberate on who among the fourth year
students should be allowed to graduate. The
plaintiff's name appeared in the Tentative List
xxx
INOCENCIO
ROSETE, petitioner,
vs.
THE AUDITOR GENERAL, respondent.
Quijano,
Rosete
and
Tizon
for
petitioner.
First Assistant Solicitor General Jose B. L. Reyes and
Solicitor Manuel Tomacruz for respondent.
FERIA, J.:
This is an appeal from the decision of the Insular
Auditor denying the claim of Inocencio Rosete and
others against the Government in the amount of
P35,376, for damages caused to buildings belonging to
the claimant, which according to the appellant's claim
were destroyed by fire that came from the contiguous
warehouse of the Emergency Control Administration,
ECA, located at No. 2262 Azcarraga, due to the
negligence of a certain Jose Frayno y Panlilio in igniting
recklessly his cigarette-lighter near a five gallon drum
into which gasoline was being drained, and of the
officers of the said ECA, which is an office or agency of
the Government, in storing gasoline in said warehouse
contrary to the provisions of Ordinances of the City of
Manila.
It is not necessary for us to pass upon the facts
alleged by the appellant, but only on the question
whether, assuming them to be true, the Insular
Auditor erred in denying or dismissing the appellant's
claim.
The claimant contends that the Auditor General erred
in not finding that the government agency or
instrumentality known as the Emergency Control
xxx
xxx
TEEHANKEE, J.:
An appeal in forma pauperis on pure questions of law
from a decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila.
.
Plaintiffs-appellants as parents of their sixteen-year old
son, Dominador Palisoc, and a student in automotive
mechanics at the Manila Technical Institute, Quezon
Boulevard, Manila, had filed on May 19, 1966, the
action below for damages arising from the death on
March 10, 1966 of their son at the hands of a fellow
student, defendant Virgilio L. Daffon, at the laboratory
room of the said Institute. .
from
is
1.
Sentencing
the defendants Virgilio
L.
Daffon, TeodosioV. Valenton and Santiago M. Quibulue
jointly and severally to pay plaintiffs as heirs of the
deceased Dominador Palisoc (a) P12,000.00 for the
death of Dominador Palisoc; (b) P3,375.00 for actual
and compensatory expenses; (c) P5,000.00 for moral,
damages; (d) P10,000.00 for loss of earning power
and (e) P2,000.00 for attorney's fee, plus the costs of
this action in both instances; 2. absolving defendant
Antonio C. Brillantes from the complaint; and 3.
dismissing defendants' counterclaims. .
CRUZ, J.:
Like any prospective graduate, Alfredo Amadora was
looking forward to the commencement exercises where
he would ascend the stage and in the presence of his
relatives and friends receive his high school diploma.
These ceremonies were scheduled on April 16, 1972.
As it turned out, though, fate would intervene and
deny him that awaited experience. On April 13, 1972,
while they were in the auditorium of their school, the
Colegio de San Jose-Recoletos, a classmate, Pablito
Damon, fired a gun that mortally hit Alfredo, ending all
no proof that the gun was the same firearm that killed
Alfredo.
Resolution of all these disagreements will depend on
the interpretation of Article 2180 which, as it happens,
is invoked by both parties in support of their conflicting
positions. The pertinent part of this article reads as
follows:
Lastly,
teachers
or
heads
of
establishments of arts and trades shall
be liable for damages caused by their
pupils and students or apprentices so
long as they remain in their custody.
Three cases have so far been decided by the Court in
connection with the above-quoted provision, to wit:
Exconde
v.
Capuno 7 Mercado
v.
Court
of
8
Appeals, and Palisoc v. Brillantes. 9 These will be
briefly reviewed in this opinion for a better resolution
of the case at bar.
In the Exconde Case, Dante Capuno, a student of the
Balintawak Elementary School and a Boy Scout,
attended a Rizal Day parade on instructions of the city
school supervisor. After the parade, the boy boarded a
jeep, took over its wheel and drove it so recklessly that
it turned turtle, resulting in the death of two of its
passengers. Dante was found guilty of double homicide
with reckless imprudence. In the separate civil action
flied against them, his father was held solidarily liable
with him in damages under Article 1903 (now Article
2180) of the Civil Code for the tort committed by the
15-year old boy.
This decision, which was penned by Justice Bautista
Angelo on June 29,1957, exculpated the school in
an obiter dictum (as it was not a party to the case) on
the ground that it was riot a school of arts and trades.
Justice J.B.L. Reyes, with whom Justices Sabino Padilla
and Alex Reyes concurred, dissented, arguing that it
was the school authorities who should be held liable
Liability under this rule, he said, was imposed on (1)
teachers in general; and (2) heads of schools of arts
and trades in particular. The modifying clause "of
establishments of arts and trades" should apply only to
"heads" and not "teachers."
Exconde was reiterated in the Mercado Case, and with
an elaboration. A student cut a classmate with a razor
blade during recess time at the Lourdes Catholic
School in Quezon City, and the parents of the victim
sued the culprits parents for damages. Through Justice
Labrador, the Court declared in another obiter (as the
school itself had also not been sued that the school
was not liable because it was not an establishment of
arts and trades. Moreover, the custody requirement
had not been proved as this "contemplates a situation
where the student lives and boards with the teacher,
such that the control, direction and influences on the
pupil supersede those of the parents." Justice J.B.L.
Reyes did not take part but the other members of the
court concurred in this decision promulgated on May
30, 1960.
CIRIACO
L.
MERCADO, petitioner,
vs.
THE COURT OF APPEALS, MANUEL QUISUMBING,
JR., ET AL., respondents.
Abad
Santos
and
Pablo
for
petitioner.
Sycip, Quisumbing, Salazar and Associates for
respondents.
LABRADOR, J.:
This is a petition to review a decision of the Court of
Appeals, which condemned petitioner to pay P2,000 as
moral damages and P50 for medical expenses, for a
physical injury caused by the son of petitioner,
Augusto Mercado, on a classmate, Manuel Quisumbing,
Jr., both pupils of the Lourdes Catholic School,
Kanlaon, Quezon City. The case had originated in the
Court of First Instance of Manila, Hon. Bienvenido A.
Tan, presiding, which dismissed the complaint filed by
Manuel Quisumbing, Jr. and his father against
petitioner, father of the above-mentioned Mercado.
The facts found by the Court of Appeals are as follows:
Plaintiff-appellant Manuel Quisumbing, Jr. is
the son of his co-plaintiff-appellants Ana
Pineda and Manuel L. Quisumbing, while
Augusto Mercado is the son of defendantappellee
Ciriaco
L.
Mercado,
Manuel
Quisumbing, Jr. and Augusto Mercado were
classmates in the Lourdes Catholic School on
Kanlaon, Quezon City. A "pitogo", which
figures prominently in this case, may be
described as an empty nutshell used by
children as a piggy bank. On February 22,
1956,
Augusto
Mercado
and
Manuel
Quisumbing, Jr. quarrelled over a "pitogo". As
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
RESOLUTION
MELENCIO-HERRERA, J.:
This is a Petition for Review of the Decision of the
Intermediate Appellate Court in CA-G.R. No. 64228-R,
to which we gave due course only in so far as the
moral and exemplary damages awarded are
concerned. The decretal portion of the judgment
reads:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
"WHEREFORE, premises considered, finding the Court
a quo in error in dismissing the complaint against
Sarkies Tours Phils., Inc., the decision insofar as it
affects Sarkies Tours Phils., Inc., is set aside and
another one entered sentencing Sarkies Tours Phils.,
Inc., jointly and solidarily, liable with Julian Mendoza.
Consequently, the appealed decision is hereby
modified to read as follows:chanrob1es virtual 1aw
library
G.R.
No.
L-63723.
September
2,
1983
for
(c)
P3,000.00
(d)
P100,000.00
(e)
(f)
(g)
SO
loss
for
the
costs
as
as
of
cash
personal
expenses;
moral
damages;
exemplary
attorneys
suit."cralaw
ORDERED."cralaw
and
funeral
for
P50,000.00
P5,000.00
of
damages;
fees;
virtua1aw
virtua1aw
and
library
library
pronouncement
as
to
costs.
SO ORDERED.
CRUZ, J.:
Little Theness Tan Uy was dead at the age of three.
Her parents said she died because she was bitten by a
dog of the petitioners, but the latter denied this,
claiming they had nothing to do with the dog. The Uys
sued the Vestils, who were sustained by the trial court.
On appeal, the decision of the court a quo was
reversed in favor of the Uys. The Vestils are now
before us. They ask us to set aside the judgment of
the respondent court and to reinstate that of the trial
court.
On July 29, 1915, Theness was bitten by a dog while
she was playing with a child of the petitioners in the
house of the late Vicente Miranda, the father of Purita
Vestil, at F. Ramos Street in Cebu City. She was
rushed to the Cebu General Hospital, where she was
treated for "multiple lacerated wounds on the
forehead" 1 and administered an anti-rabies vaccine by
Dr. Antonio Tautjo. She was discharged after nine days
but was readmitted one week later due to "vomiting of
saliva." 2 The following day, on August 15, 1975, the
18
As for the link between rabies and bronchopneumonia, the doctor had the following to say under
oath:
A: Now, as 1 said before, bronchopneumonia can result from physical,
chemical and bacterial means. ... It
can be the result of infection, now, so
if you have any other disease which
can lower your resistance you can also
get pneumonia.
xxx xxx xxx
Q: Would you say that a person who
has rabies may die of complication
which is broncho-pneumonia?
A: Yes.
Q: For the record, I am manifesting
that this book shown the witness is
know as CURRENT DIANOSIS &
TREATMENT, 1968 by Henry Brainerd,
Sheldon Margen and Milton Chaton.
Now, I invite your attention, doctor, to
page 751 of this book under the title
"Rabies." There is on this page,
"Prognosis" as a result of rabies and it
says: Once the symptoms, have
appeared death inevitably occurs after
2-3 days as a result of cardiac or
respiratory failure
or generalized
paralysis. After a positive diagnosis of
rabies or after a bite by a suspected
animal if the animal cannot be
observed or if the bite is on the head,
give rabies vaccine (duck embryo). Do
you believe in this statement?
A: Yes.
can
be
P
20,000.00
2. Juana S. Caedo
15,000.00
3. Ephraim Caedo
3,000.00
4. Eileen Caedo
4,000.00
3,000.00
6. Merilyn Caedo
3,000.00
Abrasions,
multiple:
(1)frontal region, left; (2) apex of
nose; (3) upper eyelid, left; (4) knees.
B. Wound, lacerated, irregular, deep,
frontal;
C. Fracture, simple, 2nd rib posterior,
left
with
displacement.
D. Fracture, simple, base, proximal
phalanx
right,
big
toe.
E. Fracture, simple, base, metatarsals
III
and
V
right.
F. Concussion, cerebral.
EPHRAIM CAEDO:
A.
Abrasions,
multiple:
(1) left temporal area; (2) left
frontal; (3) left supraorbital
EILEEN CAEDO:
A. Lacerated wound (V-shaped), base,
5th finger, right, lateral aspect.
B.
Abrasions,
multiple:
(1) dorsum,
proximal phalanx
middle finger; (2) Knee, anterior,
bilateral; (3) shin, lower 1/3.
ROSE ELAINE CAEDO:
P10,000.00
petitioners.
SO ORDERED.
for
attorney's
fees.
Costs
against
arm, the right leg and the upper lip apart from an
abrasion on the right infra-patella region. These
injuries and the allergic eruption caused by antitetanus injections administered to him in the hospital,
required further medical treatment by a private
practitioner who charged therefor P1,400.00.
As a consequence of the foregoing occurrence, Teotico
filed, with the Court of First Instance of Manila, a
complaint which was, subsequently, amended for
damages against the City of Manila, its mayor, city
engineer, city health officer, city treasurer and chief of
police. As stated in the decision of the trial court, and
quoted with approval by the Court of Appeals,
CITY
OF
vs.
GENARO
N.
TEOTICO
APPEALS, respondents.
MANILA, petitioner,
and
COURT
OF
xxx
xxx