Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
GLENN
March 15, 1918 DE LOS SANTOS, accused-appellant.
HELD: No. Petitioners contend that the presumption of fault Phoenix permitted Carbonel to take home the truck, which was
imposed on common carriers should not be applied on the basis scheduled to be used the next morning. Dionisio, upon seeing
the truck, tried to avoid a collision by swerving to the left, but it decisions; but the distinction is now almost entirely discredited.
was too late. His car smashed into the truck. Dionisio suffered So far as it has any validity at all, it must refer to the type of
physical injuries, including permanent facial scars, a nervous case where the forces set in operation by the defendant have
breakdown and loss of two gold bridge dentures. come to rest in a position of apparent safety, and some new
force intervenes. But even in such cases, it is not the distinction
(See resolution of factual issues by the SC, found on HELD part between cause and condition which is important, but the
of this digest.) nature of the risk and the character of the intervening cause.
At the Court of First Instance, an action for damages was Dionisios negligence is not an efficient intervening
commenced by Dionisio in the CFI, claiming that the legal and cause
proximate cause of his injuries was the negligent manner in Carbonels negligence is far from being a passive and static
which Carbonel had parked the dump truck entrusted to him by condition it was an indispensable and efficient cause. The
his employer Phoenix. Phoenix and Carbonel countered that the collision would not have happened had the truck not been
proximate cause of Dionisios injuries was his own recklessness parked askew and without any warning lights or reflector
in driving fast at the time of the accident, while under the devices. The improper parking of the dump truck created an
influence of liquor, without his headlights on, and without a unreasonable risk of injury for anyone driving down the street
curfew pass. Phoenix also sought to establish that it had and for having so created this risk, Carbonel must be held
exercised due care in the selection and supervision of the dump responsible. Carbonel owed a duty to Dionisio and others
truck driver. The CFI rendered judgment in favor of Dionisio and similarly situated not to impose upon them the very risk that
against Phoenix and Carbonel. Carbonel had created. Dionisios negligence was not of an
independent and overpowering nature as to cut, as it were, the
Upon appeal to the Intermediate Appellate Court, that court chain of causation in fact between the improper parking of the
affirmed the CFIs decision. Hence, the present petition. dump truck and the accident, nor to sever the juris vinculum of
liability.
ISSUE: Whether or not Dionisios negligence was an
intervening, efficient cause determinative of the accident and The Court quoted parts of Prosser and Keeton. With emphasis
the injuries he sustained. were the following:
Foresseable Intervening Causes. If the intervening cause is one
DECISION: NO. Although Dionisio was found to be negligent, which is ordinary human experience is reasonably to be
his negligence was not an intervening, efficient cause. The legal anticipated, or one which the defendant has reason to anticipate
and proximate cause of the accident and of Dionisios injuries under the particular circumstances, the defendant may be
was the negligence of Carbonel in the manner by which he negligent, among other reasons, because of failure to guard
parked the dump truck. Petitioners are liable for damages, but against it; or the defendant may be negligent only for that
these damages must be mitigated because of Dionisios reason There is an intervening cause combining with the
contributory negligence. Decision modified whereby Dionisio defendants conduct to produce result, and the defendants
will shoulder 20% of awarded damages. negligence consists in failure to protect the plaintiff against that
very risk.
HELD:
[Resolution of factual issues] Obviously the defendant cannot be relieved from liability by the
The Court held that on that night, Dionisio was driving without a fact that the risk or a substantial and important part of the risk,
curfew pass. Since he was without a curfew pass, he was to which the defendant has subjected the plaintiff has indeed
hurrying home, driving at a fast speed in order to avoid the come to pass. Foreseeable intervening forces are within the
police. Worse, he turned off his headlights as he was driving scope of the original risk, and hence of the defendants
down that street in order to escape notice from the nearby negligence.
police station. However, the Court held that that the one or two
shots of liquor he had did not show that he was so heavily under Thus it has been held that one who leaves an obstruction on
the influence of liquor as to constitute an act of reckless the road or a railroad track should foresee that a vehicle or a
imprudence. Taken all together, however, the Court drew the train will run into it.
conclusion that Dionisio was negligent on the night of the
accident. The risk created by the defendant may include the intervention
of the foreseeable negligence of others. Xxx The standard of
[Note: During the period of Martial Law, no person was allowed reasonable conduct may require the defendant to protect the
to be outside his home during curfew hours, unless he has a plaintiff against that occasional negligence which is one of the
curfew pass.] ordinary incidents of human life, and therefore to be
anticipated One who parks an automobile on the highway
Cause vs. Condition; Almost no distinction between them without lights at night is not relieved of responsibility when
Petitioners urge that the Carbonels negligence was merelt a another negligently drives into it
passive and static condition and that Dionisios negligence
was an efficient intervening cause, and that consequently Dionisio had contributory negligence
Dionisios negligence must be regarded as the legal and The court held that Dionisios negligence was only
proximate cause of the accident rather than the earlier contributory, that the immediate and proximate cause of the
negligence of Carbonel. injury remained Carbonels lack of due care and that
However, the distinctions between cause and condition have consequently Dionisio may recover damages though such
been almost entirely discredited. damages are subject to mitigation by the court.
The Court quotes significantly from Prosser and Keeton. The Hence, on the award of most of the damages, an allocation of
following parts were quoted with emphasis: 20-80 ratio should be followed, where 20% shall be borne by
Dionisio, while 80% shall be borne by petitioners.
Cause and condition So far as the fact of causation is
concerned, in the sense of necessary antecedents which have Last Clear Chance cannot apply
played an important part in producing the result, it is quite Petitioners ask the application of the last clear chance
impossible to distinguish between active forces and passive doctrine. It cannot apply.
situations, particularly since, as is invariably the case, the latter
are the result of other active forces which have gone before The last clear chance doctrine of the common law was imported
Even the lapse of a considerable time during which the into our jurisdiction by Picart vs. Smith but is a matter for
condition remains static will not necessarily affect liability debate whether, or to what extent, it has found its way into the
Cause and condition still find occasional mention in the Civil Code of the Philippines. Its historical function was to
mitigate the harshness of another common law doctrine or rule further alleged that even assuming that there was no
contributory negligence. The common law notion of last clear negligence on the part of MWD, it is still liable under the
chance permitted courts to grant recovery to a plaintiff who had doctrine of Last Clear Chance for having the last opportunity
also been negligent provided that the defendant had the last to save the Dominador, its employees failed to do so.
clear chance to avoid the casualty and failed to do so.
Accordingly, it is difficult to see what role, if any, the common ISSUE: Whether or not MWD is liable for the death of
law last clear chance doctrine has to play in a jurisdiction where Dominador Ong.
the common law concept of contributory negligence as an
absolute bar to recovery by the plaintiff, has itself been rejected, HELD: No. As established by the facts, MWD was not negligent
as it has been in Article 2179 of the Civil Code of the Philippines. in selecting its employees as all of them were duly certified.
MWD was not negligent in managing the pools as there were
The Court believes that there is no general concept of last clear proper safety measures and precautions/regulations that were
chance that may be extracted from its common law matrix and placed all over the pools. Hence, due diligence is appreciated as
utilized as a general rule in negligence cases in a civil law a complete and proper defense in this case. Further, the
jurisdiction. Under Article 2179, the task of a court, in technical testimony in court by the elder Ong and the other witness was
terms, is to determine whose negligence the plaintiffs or the belied by the statements they have given to the investigators
defendants was the legal or proximate cause of the injury. when they said that the lifeguard immediately dove into the
That task is not simply or even primarily an exercise in water when he was called about the boy at the bottom of the
chronology or physics. Chronology of plaintiffs and defendants pool.
negligent acts or omissions is only one of the relevant factors
that may be taken into account. Of more fundamental The doctrine of Last Clear Chance is of no application here. It
importance are the nature of the negligent act or omission of was not established as to how Dominador was able to go to the
each party and the character and gravity of the risks created by big pool. He went to the locker and thereafter no one saw him
such act or omission for the rest of the community. returned not until his body was retrieved from the bottom of the
big pool. The last clear chance doctrine can never apply where
Phoenix is presumed negligent for failing to supervise its the party charged is required to act instantaneously (how can
employees properly and adequately the lifeguard act instantaneously in dissuading Dominador from
Carbonels proven negligence creates a presumption of going to the big pool if he did not see him go there), and if the
negligence on the part of his employer Phoenix in supervising its injury cannot be avoided by the application of all means at hand
employees properly and adequately. Phoenix was not able to after the peril is or should have been discovered; at least in
overcome this presumption of negligence. It failed to show any cases in which any previous negligence of the party charged
effort on the part of Phoenix to supervise the manner in which cannot be said to have contributed to the injury.
the dump truck if parked when away from company premises. It
is an affirmative showing of culpa in vigilando on the part of
Phoenix.
G.R. No. L-51806
Decision modified as to the allocation of award of damages. November 8, 1988
DAVID TATLOR, plaintiff-appellee, v. THE MANILA ELECTRIC Taylor at the time of the accident was well-grown youth of 15,
RAILROAD AND LIGHT COMPANY, defendant-appellant. more mature both mentally and physically than the average boy
of his age; he had been to sea as a cabin boy; was able to earn
FACTS: David Taylor was a 15 year old boy who spent time as a P2.50 a day as a mechanical draftsman thirty days after the
cabin boy at sea; he was also able to learn some principles of injury was incurred; and the record discloses throughout that he
mechanical engineering and mechanical drawing from his dads was exceptionally well qualified to take care. The evidence of
office (his dad was a mechanical engineer); he was also record leaves no room for doubt that he well knew the explosive
employed as a mechanical draftsman earning P2.50 a day all character of the cap with which he was amusing himself. The
said, Taylor was mature well beyond his age. series of experiments made by him in his attempt to produce an
explosion admit of no other explanation. His attempt to
One day in 1905, he and another boy entered into the premises discharge the cap by the use of electricity, followed by his
of Manila Electric power plant where they found 20-30 blasting efforts to explode it with a stone or a hammer, and the final
caps which they took home. In an effort to explode the said success of his endeavors brought about by the applications of a
caps, Taylor experimented until he succeeded in opening the match to the contents of the cap, show clearly that he knew
caps and then he lighted it using a match which resulted to the what he was about. Nor can there be any reasonable doubt that
explosion of the caps causing severe injuries to his companion he had reason to anticipate that the explosion might be
and to Taylor losing one eye. dangerous.
Taylor sued Manila Electric alleging that because the company The just thing is that a man should suffer the damage which
left the caps exposed to children, they are liable for damages comes to him through his own fault, and that he cannot demand
due to the companys negligence. reparation therefor from another.
HELD: No. The SC reiterated the elements of quasi delict as G.R. No. L-10563
follows: March 2, 1916
(1) Damages to the plaintiff.
(2) Negligence by act or omission of which defendant THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, v. ANTONIO
personally, or some person for whose acts it must respond, was BONIFACIO, defendant-appellant.
guilty.