Torts and Damages

Civil Law Review II

18 July 2016

Quasi-Delicts

Also known as Culpa Aquiliana

Whoever by act or omission causes damages to

another, there being no fault or negligence, is
obliged to pay for the damage done. Such fault or
negligence, if there is no pre-existing contractual
relation between the parties, is called a quasi delict. (Art. 2176, Civil Code)

Torts acts giving rise to civil liability, but are

not necessarily the consequences of crimes or
contractual obligations

Requisites

Act or omission

Presence of fault or negligence (lack of due

care)

Damage to another

Causal connection between the fault or

negligence and the damage

No pre-existing contractual relation. (Manresa)

Negligence
Commonly understood as conduct which
creates an undue risk of harm to others.
It is the failure to observe that degree of
care, precaution and vigilance which the
circumstances justly demand, whereby
such other person suffers injury.

Persons Liable

A. Tortfeasor

B. Persons Vicarously Liable

Parents father, mother (minor children, living in their

company)

Guardians (minors or incapacitated persons, living in

their company, under their authority)

Owners and Managers of Establishments or Enterprises

Employers

State when it acts through a special agent

Schools, Administrator, Teacher arts and trades

Persons expressly made liable by law owners of

animals, motor vehicles.

Defenses

Contributory Negligence

Concurrent Negligence

Doctrine of Last Clear Chance

Emergency Rule

Doctrine of Assumption of Risk

Defenses

Due Diligence

Fortuitous Event

Damnum Absque Injuria

Exercise of due diligence of a good father of a

family in the selection and engagement of
employees.

Proximate Cause

Proximate Cause
That cause which, in its natural and
continuous sequence, unbroken by any
efficient intervening cause, produces the
injury, and without which the result would
not have occurred.

Doctrine of Last Clear

Chance

Also known as Doctrine of Discovered Peril,

Doctrine of Supervening Negligence, The
Humanitarian Doctrine

Where both parties are negligent, but the

negligent act of one succeeds that of the other
by an appreciable interval of time, the one who
had the last reasonable opportunity to avoid
the impending harm and fails to do so, is
chargeable with the consequences, without
reference to the prior negligence of the other
party. (Picart vs. Smith, 37 Phil. 809)

Damnum Absque
Injuria

Although there was physical damage, there was no

legal injury.

Legal exercise of a right. As a general rule, a person

has the right to the natural use and enjoyment of his
own property, according to his pleasure, for all the
purposes to which such property is usually applied.

Injury illegal invasion of a legal right.

Damage the loss, hurt, or harm which results from

the injury.

Emergency Rule
An individual who suddenly finds himself in a
situation of danger and is required to act without
much time to consider the best means that may
be adopted to avoid the impending danger, is not
guilty of negligence if he fails to undertake what
subsequently and upon reflection may appear to
be a better solution, unless the emergency was
brought by his own negligence.

Gan vs. Court of Appeals (165 SCRA 378)

Res ipsa loquitur

Peculiar to the law of negligence; recognizes

that prima facie negligence may be established
without direct proof.

Requisites:

1. the accident was of such character as to

warrant an interference that it would not have
happened without the defendants negligence;

2. accident must have been caused by an agency

or instrumentality within the exclusive
management and control of the person charged
with the negligence complained of;

3. accident must not have been due to the

voluntary action or contribution on the part of the

Contributory
Negligence
Conduct on the part of the injured party,
contributing as a legal cause to the harm
he has suffered, which falls below the
standard to which he is required to conform
for his own protection.

Assumption of Risk

Intentional exposure to a known danger;

One who voluntarily assumed the risk of an

injury from a known danger cannot recover in
an action for negligence or an injury is incurred.

Applies to all known dangers.

DAMAGES

Moral

Exemplary

Nominal

Temperate

Actual

Liquidated

(keyword: M E N T A L)

Moral Damages

Physical suffering

Besmirched reputation

Mental anguish

Fright

Moral shock

Social humiliation

Serious Anxiety

Wounded Feelings

Exemplary Damages

Corrective damage

Imposed by way of example or as a deterrent to

serious wrongdoings.

No proof of pecuniary loss is necessary.

Nominal Damages

Adjudicated in order that the right of the

plaintiff, which has been violated or invaded by
the defendant, may be vindicated or
recognized, and not for the purpose of
indemnifying the plaintiff for any loss suffered
by him.

Temperate Damages

More than nominal but less than compensatory

Pecuniary loss has been suffered but amount

cannot be proved with certainty

Actual Damages

Damages that are recoverable because of

pecuniary loss whether it be from business,
trade, property, profession, job, or occupation.

It includes:

The value of the loss suffered (dao emergente);

Profits not obtained or realized (lucro cessante).

Liquidated Damages

Those agreed upon by parties to a contract in

case of breach thereof.

If intended as a penalty in obligations with a

penal clause, proof of actual damages suffered
by the creditor is not necessary in order that
the penalty may be demanded.

- end -