Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
ISSUE:
Whether or not the petitioner is liable for moral damages.
RULING:
Yes. The Court awarded moral damages due to the totality of the negligence by the officers and
crew of the Princess of the Orient coupled with the seeming indifference of the petitioner to render
assistance to Sesante.
The petitioner argues that moral damages could be meted against a common carrier only in the
following instances, to wit: (1) in the situations enumerated by Article 2201 of the Civil Code; (2) in cases
of the death of a passenger; or (3) where there was bad faith on the part of the common carrier. It contends
that none of these instances obtained herein; hence, the award should be deleted.
We agree with the petitioner that moral damages may be recovered in an action upon breach of
contract of carriage only when: (a) death of a passenger results, or (b) it is proved that the carrier was guilty
of fraud and bad faith, even if death does not result. However, moral damages may be awarded if the
contractual breach is found to be wanton and deliberately injurious, or if the one responsible acted
fraudulently or with malice or bad faith.
The negligent acts of the officers and crew of M/V Princess of the Orient could not be ignored in
view of the extraordinary duty of the common carrier to ensure the safety of the passengers. The totality of
the negligence by the officers and crew of M/V Princess of the Orient, coupled with the seeming
indifference of the petitioner to render assistance to Sesante, warranted the award of moral damages.