Case Digest: Cruz vs. Cruz, G.R. No. 173292, September 1, 2010.

                                           Art. 777 | Succession, Survival of Cause of Action

Provision:

Art. 777. The rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent.

Principle:

In the causes of action which survive, the wrong complained [of] affects primarily and principally property and property rights, the injuries to the person being merely incidental.

Ponente:

Carpio, J.

 

Facts:

Memoracion Z. Cruz claimed that during her union with her deceased common-law husband, Architect Guido M. Cruz, she acquired a parcel of land.

In 1992, Memoracion discovered that the said property was transferred by his son Oswaldo Z. Cruz and his wife in their names by virtue of a fraudulent Deed of Sale dated 1973.

In 1993, Memoracion filed Complaint against her son Oswaldo for "Annulment of Sale, Reconveyance and Damages."

In 1996, Memoracion died after presenting her evidence.

Oswaldo filed a Motion to Dismiss on the following grounds:
(1) the action is a personal action which does not survive a party’s death, and 

(2) to allow the case to continue would result in legal absurdity whereby one heir is representing the defendant and is a co-plaintiff in this case.

In 1997, The RTC-Manila issued an order dismissing the case.

Edgardo Z. Cruz, an heir of Memoracion, filed a Motion for Reconsideration which was denied.

Nature:

Petition for Review on Certiorari.

Issue:

WoN Memoracion Z. Cruz’s Petition for Annulment of Deed of Sale, Reconveyance and Damages is a purely personal action which did not survive her death. (NO)

Held:

Petition granted.

The Petition for Annulment of Sale, Reconveyance and Damages survived the death of petitioner.

The question as to whether an action survives or not depends on the nature of the action and the damage sued for. In the causes of action which survive, the wrong complained of affects primarily and principally property and property rights, the injuries to the person being merely incidental, while in the causes of action which do not survive, the injury complained of is to the person, the property and rights of property affected being incidental. (Bonilla v. Barcena)

If the case affects primarily and principally property and property rights, then it survives the death of the plaintiff or petitioner. 

If the action survives despite death of a party, it is the duty of the deceased’s counsel to inform the court of such death, and to give the names and addresses of the deceased’s legal representatives. The deceased may be substituted by his heirs in the pending action. As explained in Bonilla:

x x x Article 777 of the Civil Code provides "that the rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent." From the moment of the death of the decedent, the heirs become the absolute owners of his property, subject to the rights and obligations of the decedent, and they cannot be deprived of their rights thereto except by the methods provided for by law. The moment of death is the determining factor when the heirs acquire a definite right to the inheritance whether such right be pure or contingent. The right of the heirs to the property of the deceased vests in them even before judicial declaration of their being heirs in the testate or intestate proceedings. When [plaintiff], therefore, died[,] her claim or right to the parcels of land x x x was not extinguished by her death but was transmitted to her heirs upon her death. Her heirs have thus acquired interest in the properties in litigation and became parties in interest in the case. There is, therefore, no reason for the respondent Court not to allow their substitution as parties in interest for the deceased plaintiff.

If no legal representative is named by the counsel of the deceased, or the legal representative fails to appear within a specified period, it is the duty of the court where the case is pending to order the opposing party to procure the appointment of an executor or administrator for the estate of the deceased. The reason for this rule is to protect all concerned who may be affected by the intervening death, particularly the deceased and his estate.

We consider such Manifestation, signed by Memoracion’s heir, Edgardo Cruz, and retaining Atty. Neri’s services as counsel, a formal substitution of deceased Memoracion by her heir, Edgardo Cruz. It also needs mention that Oswaldo Cruz, although also an heir of Memoracion, should be excluded as a legal representative in the case for being an adverse party therein.