Case Digest: Palisoc, et al., vs. Brillantes, et al., G.R. No. L-29025

Torts and Damages | Vicarious Liability

Recit Ver:

• On March 10, 1966, during a recess, classmates Virgilio L. Daffon, Desiderio Cruz, and Dominador Palisoc were in the laboratory room.

• Palisoc was observing Daffon and Cruz work when Daffon teased Palisoc for acting like a foreman.

• Palisoc lightly slapped Daffon, who retaliated with strong blows to Palisoc's face and stomach.

• Palisoc retreated but stumbled on an engine block, collapsed, and later died due to severe internal injuries.

• Palisoc’s parents filed an action for damages arising from the death of their 16-year-old son, against:

• Virgilio L. Daffon (classmate of the deceased),

• Antonio C. Brillantes (Board of Directors member),

• Teodosio Valenton (President of the Institute),

• Santiago M. Quibulue (instructor of the class).

• Daffon was of legal age at the time of the incident, and his parents were not implicated.

• The Manila Technical Institute was identified as a technical vocational school, not an academic institution.

• CFI: 

• Found the Daffon liable under Article 2176 (quasi-delict) of the Civil Code for causing the death through strong fist blows.

• Absolved the school officials based on Article 2180 of the Civil Code, which applies only when the pupil is under the custody of teachers or school heads, superseding parental control. (Mercado v. Court of Appeals)

• No evidence showed Daffon lived or boarded with school officials.

• Mercado Case—

• The dictum in Mercado interpreted "so long as they remain in their custody" to mean situations where the pupil lives and boards with the teacher, shifting responsibility from parents to school officials.

• The dictum was derived from Exconde, which stated that liability applies only to institutions of arts and trades, not academic schools.

• Defendants Valenton (school president) and Quibulue (teacher-in-charge) jointly and severally liable for damages under Article 2180—

• Liability arises from their duty to provide adequate supervision over students during school hours, including recess, regardless of whether students live and board in the school.

• School officials act as substitute parents while students are under their supervision, mandating reasonable oversight of student activities.

• Liability stems from negligence in supervision ("culpa in vigilando")

• Defendants Valenton and Quibulue failed to prove they exercised "all the diligence of a good father of a family" to prevent the incident, as required by Article 2180.

• The tragic death could have been avoided with proper supervision of students' activities in the laboratory.

• The phrase "so long as they remain in their custody" refers to supervision during attendance, not physical residence at the school—

• The earlier dicta in Mercado and Exconde were set aside in this decision as misinterpretations of the law.

• Brillantes, as a board member, was not liable—

• The school was not held liable as it was not properly impleaded, being a corporation since August 2, 1962, and no action was taken to name it as a defendant.

 TEEHANKEE, J.:

An appeal in forma pauperis on pure questions of law from a decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila. .

Plaintiffs-appellants as parents of their sixteen-year old son, Dominador Palisoc, and a student in automotive mechanics at the Manila Technical Institute, Quezon Boulevard, Manila, had filed on May 19, 1966, the action below for damages arising from the death on March 10, 1966 of their son at the hands of a fellow student, defendant Virgilio L. Daffon, at the laboratory room of the said Institute. .

Defendants, per the trial court's decision, are: 

"(T)he defendant Antonio C. Brillantes, at the time when the incident which gave rise to his action occurred was a member of the Board of Directors of the institute;  the defendant Teodosio Valenton, the president thereof; the defendant Santiago M. Quibulue, instructor of the class to which the deceased belonged; and the defendant Virgilio L. Daffon, a fellow student of the deceased. 

At the beginning the Manila Technical Institute was a single proprietorship, but lately on August 2, 1962, it was duly incorporated."

The facts that led to the tragic death of plaintiffs' son were thus narrated by the trial court: 

"(T)he deceased Dominador Palisoc and the defendant Virgilio L. Daffon were classmates, and on the afternoon of March 10, 1966, between two and three o'clock, they, together with another classmate Desiderio Cruz were in the laboratory room located on the ground floor. At that time the classes were in recess.

Desiderio Cruz and Virgilio L. Daffon were working on a machine while Dominador Palisoc was merely looking on at them. Daffon made a remark to the effect that Palisoc was acting like a foreman. Because of this remark Palisoc slapped slightly Daffon on the face. Daffon, in retaliation, gave Palisoc a strong flat blow on the face, which was followed by other fist blows on the stomach. Palisoc retreated apparently to avoid the fist blows, but Daffon followed him and both exchanged blows until Palisoc stumbled on an engine block which caused him to fall face downward. Palisoc became pale and fainted. First aid was administered to him but he was not revived, so he was immediately taken to a hospital. He never regained consciousness; finally he died. The foregoing is the substance of the testimony of Desiderio Cruz, the lone witness to the incident."

The trial court expressly gave credence to this version of the incident, as testified to by the lone eyewitness, Desiderio Cruz, a classmate of the protagonists, as that of a disinterested witness who "has no motive or reason to testify one way or another in favor of any party" and rejected the self-exculpatory version of defendant Daffon denying that he had inflicted any fist blows on the deceased. .

With the postmortem findings of Dr. Angelo Singian of the Manila Police Department who performed the autopsy re "Cause of death: shock due to traumatic fracture of theribs (6th and 7th, left, contusion of the pancreas and stomach with intra-gastric hemorrhage and slight subarachnoid hemorrhage on the brain," and his testimony that these internal injuries of the deceased were caused "probably by strong fist blows," the trial court found defendant Daffon liable for the quasi delict under Article 2176 of the Civil Code.

It held that 

"(T)he act, therefore, of the accused Daffon in giving the deceased strong fistblows in the stomach which ruptured his internal organs and caused his death falls within the purview of this article of the Code."

The trial court, however, absolved from liability the three other defendants-officials of the Manila Technical Institute, in this wise:

... Their liabilities are based on the provisions of Article 2180 of the New Civil Code which reads:

Art. 2180. ... .

Lastly, teachers or heads of establishments of arts and trades shall be liable for damages caused by their pupils and students and apprentices, so long as they remain in their custody.

In the opinion of the Court, this article of the Code is not applicable to the case at bar, since this contemplates the situation where the control or influence of the teachers and heads of school establishments over the conduct and actions by the pupil supersedes those of the parents.

CIVIL LAW: DAMAGES ART 2180. NEW CIVIL CODE CONSTRUED: — The clause "so long as they remain in their custody" contained in Article 2180 of the new civil code contemplated a situation where the pupil lives and boards with the teacher, such that the control or influence on the pupil supersedes those of the parents. In those circumstances the control or influence over the conduct and actions of the pupil as well as the responsibilities for their sort would pass from the father and mother to the teachers. (Ciriaco L. Mercado, Petitioner vs. the Court of Appeals, Manuel Quisumbing, Jr., et al., respondents, G.R. No. L-14862, May 30, 1960).

There is no evidence that the accused Daffon lived and boarded with his teacher or the other defendant officials of the school. These defendants cannot therefore be made responsible for the tort of the defendant Daffon.

Judgment was therefore rendered by the trial court as follows:

1. Sentencing the defendant Virgilio L. Daffon to pay the plaintiffs as heirs of the deceased Dominador Palisoc (a) P6,000.00 for the death of Dominador Palisoc; (b) P3,375.00 for actual and compensatory expenses; (c) P5,000.00 for moral damages; (d) P10,000.00 for loss of earning power, considering that the deceased was only between sixteen and seventeen years, and in good health when he died, and (e) P2,000.00 for attorney's fee, plus the costs of this action. .

2. Absolving the other defendants. .

3. Dismissing the defendants' counterclaim for lack of merit.

Plaintiffs' appeal raises the principal legal question that under the factual findings of the trial court, which are now beyond review, the trial court erred in absolving the defendants-school officials instead of holding them jointly and severally liable as tortfeasors, with defendant Daffon, for the damages awarded them as a result of their son's death. The Court finds the appeal, in the main, to be meritorious. .

1. The lower court absolved defendants-school officials on the ground that the provisions of Article 2180, Civil Code, which expressly hold "teachers or heads of establishments of arts and trades ... liable for damages caused by their pupils and students and apprentices, so long as they remain in their custody," are not applicable to to the case at bar, since "there is no evidence that the accused Daffon who inflicted the fatal fistblows]6 lived and boarded with his teacher or the other defendants-officials of the school. These defendants cannot therefore be made responsible for the tort of the defendant Daffon."

The lower court based its legal conclusion expressly on the Court's dictum in Mercado vs. Court of Appeals, that 

"(I)t would seem that the clause "so long as they remain in their custody," contemplates a situation where the pupil lives and boards with the teacher, such that the control, direction and influence on the pupil supersedes those of the parents. In these circumstances the control or influence over the conduct and actions of the pupil would pass from the father and mother to the teacher; and so would the responsibility for the torts of the pupil. Such a situation does not appear in the case at bar; the pupils appear to go to school during school hours and go back to their homes with their parents after school is over." 

This dictum had been made in rejecting therein petitioner father's contention that his minor son's school, Lourdes Catholic School at Kanlaon, Quezon City [which was not a party to the case] should be held responsible, rather than him as father, for the moral damages of P2,000.00 adjudged against him for the physical injury inflicted by his son on a classmate. [A cut on the right cheek with a piece of razor which costs only P50.00 by way of medical expenses to treat and cure, since the wound left no scar.] The moral damages award was after all set aside by the Court on the ground that none of the specific cases provided in Article 2219, Civil Code, for awarding moral damages had been established, petitioner's son being only nine years old and not having been shown to have "acted with discernment" in inflicting the injuries on his classmate. .

The dictum in Mercado was based in turn on another dictum in the earlier case of Exconde vs. Capuno, where the only issue involved as expressly stated in the decision, was whether the therein defendant-father could be civilly liable for damages resulting from a death caused in a motor vehicle accident driven unauthorizedly and negligently by his minor son, (which issue was resolved adversely against the father). Nevertheless, the dictum in such earlier case that "It is true that under the law abovequoted, teachers or directors of arts and trades are liable for any damage caused by their pupils or apprentices while they are under their custody, but this provision only applies to an institution of arts and trades and not to any academic educational institution" was expressly cited and quoted in Mercado. .

2. The case at bar was instituted directly against the school officials and squarely raises the issue of liability of teachers and heads of schools under Article 2180, Civil Code, for damages caused by their pupils and students against fellow students on the school premises. Here, the parents of the student at fault, defendant Daffon, are not involved, since Daffon was already of age at the time of the tragic incident. There is no question, either, that the school involved is a non-academic school, the Manila Technical Institute being admittedly a technical vocational and industrial school. .

The Court holds that under the cited codal article, defendants head and teacher of the Manila Technical Institute (defendants Valenton and Quibulue, respectively) are liable jointly and severally for damages to plaintiffs-appellants for the death of the latter's minor son at the hands of defendant Daffon at the school's laboratory room. No liability attaches to defendant Brillantes as a mere member of the school's board of directors. The school itself cannot be held similarly liable, since it has not been properly impleaded as party defendant. 

While plaintiffs sought to so implead it, by impleading improperly defendant Brillantes, its former single proprietor, the lower court found that it had been incorporated since August 2, 1962, and therefore the school itself, as thus incorporated, should have been brought in as party defendant. Plaintiffs failed to do so, notwithstanding that Brillantes and his co-defendants in their reply to plaintiffs' request for admission had expressly manifested and made of record that "defendant Antonio C. Brillantes is not the registered owner/head of the "Manila Technical Institute" which is now a corporation and is not owned by any individual person."

3. The rationale of such liability of school heads and teachers for the tortious acts of their pupils and students, so long as they remain in their custody, is that they stand, to a certain extent, as to their pupils and students, in loco parentis and are called upon to "exercise reasonable supervision over the conduct of the child." This is expressly provided for in Articles 349, 350 and 352 of the Civil Code. In the law of torts, the governing principle is that the protective custody of the school heads and teachers is mandatorily substituted for that of the parents, and hence, it becomes their obligation as well as that of the school itself to provide proper supervision of the students' activities during the whole time that they are at attendance in the school, including recess time, as well as to take the necessary precautions to protect the students in their custody from dangers and hazards that would reasonably be anticipated, including injuries that some student themselves may inflict willfully or through negligence on their fellow students. .

4. As tersely summarized by Mr. Justice J.B.L. Reyes in his dissenting opinion in Exconde, "the basis of the presumption of negligence of Art. 1903 [now 2180] is some culpa in vigilando that the parents, teachers, etc. are supposed to have incurred in the exercise of their authority"  and "where the parent places the child under the effective authority of the teacher, the latter, and not the parent, should be the one answerable for the torts committed while under his custody, for the very reason that the parent is not supposed to interfere with the discipline of the school nor with the authority and supervision of the teacher while the child is under instruction." The school itself, likewise, has to respond for the fault or negligence of its school head and teachers under the same cited article.14

5. The lower court therefore erred in law in absolving defendants-school officials on the ground that they could be held liable under Article 2180, Civil Code, only if the student who inflicted the fatal fistblows on his classmate and victim "lived and boarded with his teacher or the other defendants officials of the school." 

As stated above, the phrase used in the cited article — "so long as (the students) remain in their custody" means the protective and supervisory custody that the school and its heads and teachers exercise over the pupils and students for as long as they are at attendance in the school, including recess time. There is nothing in the law that requires that for such liability to attach the pupil or student who commits the tortious act must live and board in the school, as erroneously held by the lower court, and the dicta in Mercado (as well as in Exconde) on which it relied, must now be deemed to have been set aside by the present decision. .

6. Defendants Valenton and Quibulue as president and teacher-in-charge of the school must therefore be held jointly and severally liable for the quasi-delict of their co-defendant Daffon in the latter's having caused the death of his classmate, the deceased Dominador Palisoc. The unfortunate death resulting from the fight between the protagonists-students could have been avoided, had said defendants but complied with their duty of providing adequate supervision over the activities of the students in the school premises to protect their students from harm, whether at the hands of fellow students or other parties. At any rate, the law holds them liable unless they relieve themselves of such liability, in compliance with the last paragraph of Article 2180, Civil Code, by "(proving) that they observed all the diligence of a good father of a family to prevent damage." In the light of the factual findings of the lower court's decision, said defendants failed to prove such exemption from liability. .

7. Plaintiffs-appellees' contention that the award of P6,000.00 as indemnity for the death of their son should be increased to P12,000.00 as set by the Court in People vs. Pantoja, and observed in all death indemnity cases thereafter is well taken. The Court, in Pantoja, after noting the decline in the purchasing power of the Philippine peso, had expressed its "considered opinion that the amount of award of compensatory damages for death caused by a crime or quasi-delict should now be P12,000.00." The Court thereby adjusted the minimum amount of "compensatory damages for death caused by a crime or quasi-delict" as per Article 2206, Civil Code, from the old stated minimum of P3,000.00 to P12,000.00, which amount is to be awarded "even though there may have been mitigating circumstances" pursuant to the express provisions of said codal article. .

8. Plaintiffs-appellees' other claims on appeal that the lower court should have awarded exemplary damages and imposed legal interest on the total damages awarded, besides increasing the award of attorney's fees all concern matters that are left by law to the discretion of the trial court and the Court has not been shown any error or abuse in the exercise of such discretion on the part of the trial court.  Decisive here is the touchstone provision of Article 2231, Civil Code, that "In quasi-delicts, exemplary damages may be granted if the defendant acted with gross negligence." 

No gross negligence on the part of defendants was found by the trial court to warrant the imposition of exemplary damages, as well as of interest and increased attorney's fees, and the Court has not been shown in this appeal any compelling reason to disturb such finding. .

ACCORDINGLY, the judgment appealed from is modified so as to provide as follows: .

1. Sentencing the defendants Virgilio L. Daffon, Teodosio V. Valenton and Santiago M. Quibulue jointly and severally to pay plaintiffs as heirs of the deceased Dominador Palisoc (a) P12,000.00 for the death of Dominador Palisoc; (b) P3,375.00 for actual and compensatory expenses; (c) P5,000.00 for moral, damages; (d) P10,000.00 for loss of earning power and (e) P2,000.00 for attorney's fee, plus the costs of this action in both instances; 2. absolving defendant Antonio C. Brillantes from the complaint; and 3. dismissing defendants' counterclaims. .

Concepcion, C.J., Villamor and Makasiar, JJ., concur. .

Dizon, J., took no part. .