Case Digest: Triple-V v. Filipino Merchants, G.R. No. 160544, February 21, 2005

Commercial Law | Deposit as to Parking

Facts: 

• Mary Jo-Anne De Asis dined at Kamayan Restaurant and availed of valet parking service.
• De Asis entrusted her Mitsubishi Galant to the valet attendant, Armando Madridano.
• The car went missing from the designated parking area, and its key was not found in the valet counter.
• Crispa Textile Inc., De Asis' employer, filed a claim with its insurer, Filipino Merchants Insurance Company, Inc., who indemnified Crispa for the loss.
• FMICI, as subrogee, filed a lawsuit against petitioner Triple-V Food Services, Inc. for damages.
• Petitioner argued no negligence and cited a provision in the parking ticket waiving responsibility for any loss.
• "Management and staff will not be responsible for any loss of or damage incurred on the vehicle nor of valuables contained therein."
• RTC-Makati: Ruled in favor of FMICI, ordering petitioner to pay damages.
• Court of Appeals: Affirmed the decision.

Issue: 

• Whether petitioner was a depositary of the subject vehicle. YES

Held:

We agree with the two (2) courts below.

When De Asis entrusted the car in question to petitioners valet attendant while eating at petitioner's Kamayan Restaurant, the former expected the car's safe return at the end of her meal. Thus, petitioner was constituted as a depositary of the same car. Petitioner cannot evade liability by arguing that neither a contract of deposit nor that of insurance, guaranty or surety for the loss of the car was constituted when De Asis availed of its free valet parking service.

In a contract of deposit, a person receives an object belonging to another with the obligation of safely keeping it and returning the same. A deposit may be constituted even without any consideration. It is not necessary that the depositary receives a fee before it becomes obligated to keep the item entrusted for safekeeping and to return it later to the depositor.

Specious is petitioner's insistence that the valet parking claim stub it issued to De Asis contains a clear exclusion of its liability and operates as an explicit waiver by the customer of any right to claim indemnity for any loss of or damage to the vehicle.

The parking claim stub embodying the terms and conditions of the parking, including that of relieving petitioner from any loss or damage to the car, is essentially a contract of adhesion, drafted and prepared as it is by the petitioner alone with no participation whatsoever on the part of the customers, like De Asis, who merely adheres to the printed stipulations therein appearing. While contracts of adhesion are not void in themselves, yet this Court will not hesitate to rule out blind adherence thereto if they prove to be one-sided under the attendant facts and circumstances.

Hence, and as aptly pointed out by the Court of Appeals, petitioner must not be allowed to use its parking claim stub's exclusionary stipulation as a shield from any responsibility for any loss or damage to vehicles or to the valuables contained therein. Here, it is evident that De Asis deposited the car in question with the petitioner as part of the latter's enticement for customers by providing them a safe parking space within the vicinity of its restaurant. In a very real sense, a safe parking space is an added attraction to petitioner's restaurant business because customers are thereby somehow assured that their vehicle are safely kept, rather than parking them elsewhere at their own risk. Having entrusted the subject car to petitioner's valet attendant, customer De Asis, like all of petitioner's customers, fully expects the security of her car while at petitioner's premises/designated parking areas and its safe return at the end of her visit at petitioner's restaurant.

Petitioner's argument that there was no valid subrogation of rights between Crispa and FMICI because theft was not a risk insured against under FMICI's Insurance Policy No. PC-5975 holds no water.

Insurance Policy No. PC-5975 which respondent FMICI issued to Crispa contains, among others things, the following item: "Insured's Estimate of Value of Scheduled Vehicle- P800.000". On the basis of such item, the trial court concluded that the coverage includes a full comprehensive insurance of the vehicle in case of damage or loss. Besides, Crispa paid a premium of P10,304 to cover theft. This is clearly shown in the breakdown of premiums in the same policy. Thus, having indemnified CRISPA for the stolen car, FMICI, as correctly ruled by the trial court and the Court of Appeals, was properly subrogated to Crispa's rights against petitioner, pursuant to Article 2207 of the New Civil Code.

Anent the trial court's findings of negligence on the part of the petitioner, which findings were affirmed by the appellate court, we have consistently ruled that findings of facts of trial courts, more so when affirmed, as here, by the Court of Appeals, are conclusive on this Court unless the trial court itself ignored, overlooked or misconstrued facts and circumstances which, if considered, warrant a reversal of the outcome of the case. This is not so in the case at bar. For, we have ourselves reviewed the records and find no justification to deviate from the trial court's findings.

WHEREFORE, petition is hereby DENIED DUE COURSE.