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xxx xxx xxx(5) that the common carrier shall not be responsible for theacts or
omissions of his or its employees;(6) that the common carrier's liability for acts
committed byt h i e v e s , o r o f r
obbers
w h o d o
not
act with
g r a v e o r irresistible
t
hreat, violence or force
, i s d i s p e n s e d w i t h o r diminished; and( 7 ) t h a t t h e c o m m o n c a r r i e r s h a l l
n o t r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e loss, destruction or deterioration of goods
on account of thedefective condition of the car vehicle, ship, airplane or
othere q u i p m e n t u s e d i n t h e c o n t r a c t o f c a r r i a g e . ( E m p h a s i s suppli
ed)Under Article 1745 (6) above, a common carrier is held responsible and
will not beallowed to divest or to diminish such responsibility even for acts
of strangers likethieves or robbers,
except
where such thieves or robbers in fact acted "with grave orirresistible threat,
violence or force." We believe and so hold that the limits of the dutyof extraordinary
diligence in the vigilance over the goods carried are reached where thegoods are lost as
a result of a robbery which is attended by "grave or irresistible threat,violence or
force." The decision of the trial court shows that the armed men who held up the second
truckowned by private respondent acted with grave, if not irresistible, threat,
violence orforce, which is an exception of the general rule of Article 1745 (6).
RULING:
The Petition for Review on certiorari is hereby DENIED and the Decision of
the Court of Appeals dated 3 August 1977 is AFFIRMED. The occurrence of the loss
must reasonably be regarded as quite beyond the control of the common carrier and
properly regarded as a fortuitous event. It is necessary to recallthat even common
carriers are not made absolute insurers against all risks of travel
ando f t r a n s p o r t o f g o o d s , a n d a r e n o t h e l d l i a b l e f o r
a c t s o r e v e n t s w h i c h c a n n o t b e foreseen or are inevitable, provided
that they shall have complied with the rigorousstandard of extraordinary
diligence.W e , t h e r e f o r e , a g r e e w i t h t h e r e s u l t r e a c h e d b y t h e
C o u r t o f A p p e a l s t h a t p r i v a t e respondent Cendana is not liable for the
value of the undelivered merchandise whichwas lost because of an event entirely
beyond private respondent's control.