Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
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* THIRD DIVISION.
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lost or for other cause. In either case, the consignee must issue a
receipt to the carrier upon the release of the goods. Such receipt
shall produce the same effect as the surrender of the bill of lading.
Same; Same; Same; The nonsurrender of the original bill of
lading does not violate the carrier’s duty of extraordinary diligence
over the goods.—We have already ruled that the nonsurrender of
the original bill of lading does not violate the carrier’s duty of
extraordinary diligence over the goods. In Republic v. Lorenzo
Shipping Corporation, 450 SCRA 550 (2005), we found that the
carrier exercised extraordinary diligence when it released the
shipment to the consignee, not upon the surrender of the original
bill of lading, but upon signing the delivery receipts and
surrender of the certified true copies of the bills of lading. Thus,
we held that the surrender of the original bill of lading is not a
condition precedent for a common carrier to be discharged of its
contractual obligation.
Same; Same; Same; Law and jurisprudence is settled that the
surrender of the original bill of lading is not absolute; that in case
of loss or any other cause, a common carrier may release the goods
to the consignee even without it.—Clearly, law and jurisprudence
is settled that the surrender of the original bill of lading is not
absolute; that in case of loss or any other cause, a common carrier
may release the goods to the consignee even without it. Here,
Ambiente could not produce the bill of lading covering the
shipment not because it was lost, but for another cause: the bill of
lading was retained by DBI pending Ambiente’s full payment of
the shipment. Ambiente and ASTI then entered into an
Indemnity Agreement, wherein the former asked the latter to
release the shipment even without the surrender of the bill of
lading. The execution of this Agreement, and the undisputed fact
that the shipment was released to Ambiente pursu
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JARDELEZA, J.:
This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 of the August
16, 2007 Decision2 and September 2, 2008 Resolution3 of
the Court of Appeals (CA) in C.A.G.R. CV No. 79790,
absolving respondents Air Sea Transport, Inc. (ASTI) and
Asia Cargo Container Lines, Inc. (ACCLI) from liability in
the complaint for sum of money and damages filed by
petitioner Designer Baskets, Inc. (DBI).
The Fa cts
DBI is a domestic corporation engaged in the production
of housewares and handicraft items for export.4 Sometime
in October 1995, Ambiente, a foreignbased company,
ordered from DBI5 223 cartons of assorted wooden items
(the ship
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6 Id.
7 Per Invoice Number 497 dated January 6, 1996, id., at p. 11.
8 Id., at pp. 12.
9 Id., at pp. 4648.
10 CA Decision, Rollo, p. 28.
11 Id., at p. 81.
12 Id.
13 Id.
14 Id., at pp. 2829.
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35 Id., at p. 92.
36 Id., at p. 89.
37 Id.
38 Id.
39 Id., at p. 90.
40 Id., at p. 89.
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41 Id., at p. 90.
42 Id.
43 Id., at p. 92.
44 Brief for the PlaintiffAppellant, id., at pp. 137147.
45 Id., at pp. 97119.
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46 Id., at p. 34.
47 Id., at pp. 3637.
48 Id.
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49 Id., at p. 36.
50 Id., at p. 37.
51 The CA, citing C.F. Sharp & Co., Inc. v. Northwest Airlines, Inc.,
G.R. No. 133498, April 18, 2002, 381 SCRA 314, 319320, stated that
Republic Act No. 8183 allows the parties to agree upon payment in
another currency other than the Philippine Peso. Hence, the obligation of
Ambiente may be paid at the currency agreed upon by the parties or its
peso equivalent at the time of payment.
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61 Id., at p. 78.
62 Id., at p. 79.
63 G.R. No. 80936, October 17, 1990, 190 SCRA 512; as cited by the
CA, Rollo, pp. 3536.
64 Id., at p. 515.
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65 Id., at p. 522.
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72 Id., at p. 637.
73 G.R. No. 189871, August 13, 2013, 703 SCRA 439.
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