Yobido v. CA, G.R. No. 113003|1997
G.R. No. 113003. October 17, 1997
ALBERTA YOBIDO and CRESENCIO YOBIDO, petitioners, vs. COURT OF APPEALS, LENY TUMBOY, ARDEE TUMBOY and JASMIN TUMBOY, respondents.
Rationale: Blown tire case, is it fortuitous?
Case Summary:
Facts:
1. Spouses Tito and Leny Tumboy and their minor children named Ardee and Jasmin, boarded at Mangagoy, Surigao del Sur, a Yobido Liner bus bound for Davao City. Along Picop Road in Km. 17, Sta. Maria, Agusan del Sur, the left front tire of the bus exploded. The bus fell into a ravine around three (3) feet from the road and struck a tree. The incident resulted in the death of 28-year-old Tito Tumboy and physical injuries to other passengers.
2. A complaint for breach of contract of carriage, damages and attorneys fees was filed by Leny and her children against Alberta Yobido, the owner of the bus, and Cresencio Yobido, its driver, before the Regional Trial Court of Davao City.
3. When the defendants therein filed their answer to the complaint, they raised the affirmative defense of caso fortuito (force majeure).
4. Contention of petitioners: The plaintiffs asserted that violation of the contract of carriage between them and the defendants was brought about by the drivers failure to exercise the diligence required of the carrier in transporting passengers safely to their place of destination. According to Leny Tumboy, the bus left Mangagoy at 3:00 oclock in the afternoon. The winding road it traversed was not cemented and was wet due to the rain; it was rough with crushed rocks. The bus which was full of passengers had cargoes on top. Since it was running fast, she cautioned the driver to slow down but he merely stared at her through the mirror. At around 3:30 p.m., in Trento, she heard something explode and immediately, the bus fell into a ravine.
5. Defense of Respondent: the defendants tried to establish that the accident was due to a fortuitous event. Abundio Salce, who was the bus conductor when the incident happened, testified that the 42-seater bus was not full as there were only 32 passengers, such that he himself managed to get a seat. He added that the bus was running at a speed of 60 to 50 and that it was going slow because of the zigzag road.He affirmed that the left front tire that exploded was a brand new tire that he mounted on the bus on April 21, 1988 or only five (5) days before the incident. The Yobido Liner secretary, Minerva Fernando, bought the new Goodyear tire from Davao Toyo Parts on April 20, 1988 and she was present when it was mounted on the bus by Salce. She stated that all driver applicants in Yobido Liner underwent actual driving tests before they were employed. Defendant Cresencio Yobido underwent such test and submitted his professional drivers license and clearances from the barangay, the fiscal and the police.
6. After trial on the merits, the lower court (LC) rendered its Decision dismissing complaint.
a. The LC, on the issue of whether or not the tire blowout was a caso fortuito (force majeure) it found that the falling of the bus to the cliff was a result of no other outside factor than the tire blow-out.
b. It held that the ruling in the La Mallorca and Pampanga Bus Co. v. De Jesus that a tire blowout is a mechanical defect of the conveyance or a fault in its equipment which was easily discoverable if the bus had been subjected to a more thorough or rigid check-up before it took to the road that morning is inapplicable to this case. It reasoned out that in said case, it was found that the blowout was caused by the established fact that the inner tube of the left front tire was pressed between the inner circle of the left wheel and the rim which had slipped out of the wheel. In this case, however, the cause of the explosion remains a mystery until at present. As such, the court added, the tire blowout was a caso fortuito which is completely an extraordinary circumstance independent of the will of the defendants who should be relieved of whatever liability the plaintiffs may have suffered by reason of the explosion pursuant to Article 1174[4] of the Civil Code.
7. Dissatisfied, the plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeals. They ascribed to the lower court the following errors: (a) finding that the tire blowout was a caso fortuito; xxx
8. The Court of Appeals rendered the Decision[7] reversing that of the lower court. It held that:
a. To Our mind, the explosion of the tire is not in itself a fortuitous event. The cause of the blow-out, if due to a factory defect, improper mounting, excessive tire pressure, is not an unavoidable event. On the other hand, there may have been adverse conditions on the road that were unforeseeable and/or inevitable, which could make the blow-out a caso fortuito. The fact that the cause of the blow-out was not known does not relieve the carrier of liability. Owing to the statutory presumption of negligence against the carrier and its obligation to exercise the utmost diligence of very cautious persons to carry the passenger safely as far as human care and foresight can provide, it is the burden of the defendants to prove that the cause of the blow-out was a fortuitous event. It is not incumbent upon the plaintiff to prove that the cause of the blow-out is not caso-fortuito.
b. Proving that the tire that exploded is a new Goodyear tire is not sufficient to discharge defendants burden. As enunciated in Necesito vs. Paras, the passenger has neither choice nor control over the carrier in the selection and use of its equipment, and the good repute of the manufacturer will not necessarily relieve the carrier from liability.
c. Moreover, there is evidence that the bus was moving fast, and the road was wet and rough. The driver could have explained that the blow-out that precipitated the accident that caused the death of Toto Tumboy could not have been prevented even if he had exercised due care to avoid the same, but he was not presented as witness.
9. A Motion for reconsideration was filed but respondent but was denied.
10. Thus the present petition to Supreme Court.
Issue:
1. Whether or not petitioners should be exempt from liability because the tire blowout was no more than a fortuitous event that could not have been foreseen. - NO
Held:
1. NO.
2. In view of the foregoing, petitioners contention that they should be exempt from liability because the tire blowout was no more than a fortuitous event that could not have been foreseen, must fail.
3. A fortuitous event is possessed of the following characteristics: (a) the cause of the unforeseen and unexpected occurrence, or the failure of the debtor to comply with his obligations, must be independent of human will; (b) it must be impossible to foresee the event which constitutes the caso fortuito, or if it can be foreseen, it must be impossible to avoid; (c) the occurrence must be such as to render it impossible for the debtor to fulfill his obligation in a normal manner; and (d) the obligor must be free from any participation in the aggravation of the injury resulting to the creditor.[13] As Article 1174 provides, no person shall be responsible for a fortuitous event which could not be foreseen, or which, though foreseen, was inevitable. In other words, there must be an entire exclusion of human agency from the cause of injury or loss. [14]
4. Under the circumstances of this case, the explosion of the new tire may not be considered a fortuitous event. There are human factors involved in the situation. The fact that the tire was new did not imply that it was entirely free from manufacturing defects or that it was properly mounted on the vehicle. Neither may the fact that the tire bought and used in the vehicle is of a brand name noted for quality, resulting in the conclusion that it could not explode within five days use. Be that as it may, it is settled that an accident caused either by defects in the automobile or through the negligence of its driver is not a caso fortuito that would exempt the carrier from liability for damages.
5. Moreover, a common carrier may not be absolved from liability in case of force majeure or fortuitous event alone. The common carrier must still prove that it was not negligent in causing the death or injury resulting from an accident.16 This Court has had occasion to state:
a. While it may be true that the tire that blew-up was still good because the grooves of the tire were still visible, this fact alone does not make the explosion of the tire a fortuitous event. No evidence was presented to show that the accident was due to adverse road conditions or that precautions were taken by the jeepney driver to compensate for any conditions liable to cause accidents. The sudden blowing-up, therefore, could have been caused by too much air pressure injected into the tire coupled by the fact that the jeepney was overloaded and speeding at the time of the accident.17
Some discussion by Supreme court:
It is interesting to note that petitioners proved through the bus conductor, Salce, that the bus was running at 60-50 kilometers per hour only or within the prescribed lawful speed limit. However, they failed to rebut the testimony of Leny Tumboy that the bus was running so fast that she cautioned the driver to slow down. These contradictory facts must, therefore, be resolved in favor of liability in view of the presumption of negligence of the carrier in the law. Coupled with this is the established condition of the road rough, winding and wet due to the rain. It was incumbent upon the defense to establish that it took precautionary measures considering partially dangerous condition of the road. As stated above, proof that the tire was new and of good quality is not sufficient proof that it was not negligent. Petitioners should have shown that it undertook extraordinary diligence in the care of its carrier, such as conducting daily routinary check-ups of the vehicles parts. As the late Justice J.B.L. Reyes said:
It may be impracticable, as appellee argues, to require of carriers to test the strength of each and every part of its vehicles before each trip; but we are of the opinion that a due regard for the carriers obligations toward the traveling public demands adequate periodical tests to determine the condition and strength of those vehicle portions the failure of which may endanger the safety of the passengers.[18]
Having failed to discharge its duty to overthrow the presumption of negligence with clear and convincing evidence, petitioners are hereby held liable for damages. Article 1764[19] in relation to Article 2206[20] of the Civil Code prescribes the amount of at least three thousand pesos as damages for the death of a passenger. Under prevailing jurisprudence, the award of damages under Article 2206 has been increased to fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00).[21]
Moral damages are generally not recoverable in culpa contractual except when bad faith had been proven. However, the same damages may be recovered when breach of contract of carriage results in the death of a passenger,[22] as in this case. Exemplary damages, awarded by way of example or correction for the public good when moral damages are awarded,[23] may likewise be recovered in contractual obligations if the defendant acted in wanton, fraudulent, reckless, oppressive, or malevolent manner.[24] Because petitioners failed to exercise the extraordinary diligence required of a common carrier, which resulted in the death of Tito Tumboy, it is deemed to have acted recklessly.[25] As such, private respondents shall be entitled to exemplary damages.