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L-2246
January 31, 1951
FACTS
Westchester Fire Insurance Company of New York entered into a contract with Tina J.
Gamboa whereby said company insured one case of rayon yardage which said Tina J.
Gamboa shipped from San Francisco, California to Manila, Philippines and consigned to
Jovito Salonga, plaintiff herein. According to the contract of insurance, the insurance
company undertook to pay to the sender or her consignee the damages that may be
caused to the goods shipped subject to the condition that the liability of the company will
be limited to the actual loss which the insured may suffer not to the exceed the sum of
P2,000. The ship arrived in Manila, and the shipment was later on examined by C. B.
Nelson and Co., marine surveyors, at the request of the plaintiff, and in their examination
the surveyors found a shortage in the shipment in the amount of P1,723,12.
Plaintiff filed a claim for damages in the amount of P1,723.12 against the American
President Lines, agents of the ship, demanding settlement, and when no action was taken
on this claim, plaintiff demanded payment thereof from Warner, Barnes and Co., Ltd., as
agent of the insurance company in the Philippines, and this agent having refused to pay
the claim, plaintiff instituted the present action.
After trial, at which both parties presented their respective evidence, the court rendered
judgment against Jovito Salonga. The motion for reconsideration filed by the defendant
having been denied, the case was appealed to this court.
ISSUE:
WON The trial court erred in holding that defendant, as agent of Westchester Fire
Insurance Company of New York, United States of America, is responsible upon the
insurance claim subject to the suit.
HELD:
YES.
1. Defendant has no contractual relation with either plaintiff or his consignor
be made in case of litigation, such service may be made on any agent it may have in the
Philippines.
The Westchester Fire Insurance Company of new York comes within the import of this
rule for even if it has not designated an agent as required by law, it has however a
settling agent who may serve the purpose. In other words, an action may be brought
against said insurance company in the Philippines and the process may be served on the
defendant to give our courts the necessary jurisdiction.