Yu Con vs. Ipil, G.R. No. L-10195 [Case Digest]

 

 

 

Yu Con vs. Ipil,

G.R. No. L-10195. Dec. 29, 1916

Facts:

            Plaintiff file an action to recover from the defendants the sum of P450, which had been delivered by the plaintiff to Ipil and Solamo, master and supercargo, respectively, of a banca named Maria belonging to Lauron, to be carried, together with various merchandise belonging to the plaintiff, from the port of Cebu to the town of Catmon of the Province of Cebu. By virtue of the contract executed between Lauron and the plaintiff, the money and merchandise were to be transported by the said craft between the points above-named in consideration of the payment of a certain sum for each voyage. The money disappeared from said craft during the night of October 18, 1911, while it was anchored in the port of Cebu and ready to sail for its destination, Catmon, and was not afterwards found. The plaintiff based his action on the charge that the disappearance of said sum was due to the abandonment, negligence, or voluntary breach, on the part of the defendants, of the duty they had in respect to the safe-keeping of the aforementioned sum. Plaintiff chartered the said banca from the defendant Lauron for the transportation of various merchandise from the port of Cebu to Catmon.

            The defendants, besides denying the allegations of the complaint, pleaded in special defense that the plaintiff, at his own expense and under his exclusive responsibility, chartered the said banca, the property of the defendant Lauron, for the fixed period of three days, at the price of P10 per diem, and that, through the misfortune, negligence, or abandonment of the plaintiff himself, the loss complained of occurred, while said banca was at anchor in the port of Cebu, and was caused by theft committed by unknown thieves.

            The Trial Court held that there was no room to doubt that the sole cause of the disappearance of the money from the said banca was the negligence of the master and the supercargo, the defendants Ipil and Solamo, respectively, and that the defendant Narciso Lauron was responsible for that negligence, as owner of the banca, pursuant to articles 589, 587, and 618 of the Code of Commerce.

 

Issue:

            Whether or not the master and the supercargo (Ipil and Solamo) were negligent in guarding the money of the plaintiff.

 

Held:

            YES. It is therefore beyond all doubt that the loss or disappearance, on the night aforementioned, of the P450, the property of the plaintiff, which, were in the possession of the defendants, the master and the supercargo of the banca Maria, occurred through the manifest fault and negligence of said defendants.

            Liability of carriers. — In order that a thing may be transported, it must be delivered to the carrier, as the Code says. From the time it is delivered to the carrier or shipper until it is received by the consignee, the carrier has it in his possession, as a necessary condition for its transportation, and is obliged to preserve and guard it; wherefore it is but natural and logical that he should be responsible for it. [Manrresa]

            The said two defendants being the depositaries of the sum in question, and they having failed to exercise for its safe-keeping the diligence required by the nature of the obligation assumed by them and by the circumstances of the time and the place, it is evident that, in pursuance of the provisions of articles 1601 and 1602, in their relation to articles 1783 and 1784, and as prescribed in articles 1770, of the Civil Code, they are liable for its loss or misplacement and must restore it to the plaintiff, together with the corresponding interest thereon as an indemnity for the losses and damages caused him through the loss of the said sum.

            AS TO LIABLITY OF LAURON

            The word vessel serves to designate every kind of craft by whatever particular or technical name it may now be known or which nautical advancements may give it in the future. According to the foregoing definitions, then, we should that the banca called Maria, chartered by the plaintiff Yu Con from the defendant Narciso Lauron, was a "vessel", pursuant to the meaning this word has in mercantile law, that is, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Commerce in force.

            The Code of Commerce previous to the one now in force, to wit, that of 1829, in its article 624, provided that the agent or shipowner should not be liable for any excesses which, during the navigation, might be committed by the captain and crew, and that, for the reason of such excesses, it was only proper to bring action against the persons and property of those found guilty.

            It is therefore evident that, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Commerce in force, which are applicable to the instance case, the defendant Narciso Lauron, as the proprietor and owner of the craft of which Glicerio Ipil was the master and in which, through the fault and negligence of the latter and of the supercago Justo Solamo, there occurred the loss, theft, or robbery of the P450 that belonged to the plaintiff and were delivered to said master and supercargo, a theft which, on the other hand, as shown by the evidence, does not appear to have been committed by a person not belonging to the craft, should, for said loss or theft, be held civilly liable to the plaintiff, who executed with said defendant Lauron the contract for the transportation of the merchandise and money aforementioned between the port of Cebu and the town of Catmon, by means of the said craft.