Parmanand Shewaram vs. Philippine Airlines.

G.R. No. L-20099, July 7, 1966.

FACTS:

Shewaram instituted an action to recover damages suffered by him due to the alleged failure to observe extraordinary diligence in the vigilance and carriage of his luggage. He boarded a PAL plane bound for Manila from Zamboanga. One of  his suitcase did not arrive with his flight because it was sent to Iligan. However upon arrival of the suitcase in Manila, it was tampered and the transistor radio and the camera contained therein were lost. The total value of the two articles was P373.00.

PAL contended that its liability should be limited to the amount stated in the conditions of carriage printed at the back of the plane ticket – “the liability, if any, for loss or damage to checked baggage or for delay in the delivery  shall be conclusively deemed not to exceed P100.00 for each ticket.”  Since Shewaram failed to declare a higher value and pay for the declared amount, he cannot demand payment in excess of P100.00. 

ISSUE:

Whether PAL’s carriage liability is limited to the amount of P100.00 as stipulated at the back of the ticket.

HELD:

NO. It can not be said that the appellee had actually entered into a contract with PAL, embodying the conditions as printed at the back of the ticket stub. The fact that those conditions are printed at the back of the ticket stub in letters so small that they are hard to read would not warrant the presumption that the appellee was aware of those conditions such that he had “fairly and freely agreed” to those conditions. The trial court has categorically stated in its decision that the “Defendant admits that passengers do not sign the ticket, much less did plaintiff herein sign his ticket when he made the flight on November 23, 1959.” We hold, therefore, that the appellee is not, and can not be, bound by the conditions of carriage found at the back of the ticket stub issued to him when he made the flight on appellant’s plane on November 23, 1959.

In the case of Ysmael and Co. vs. Barreto, 51 Phil. 90, cited by the trial court in support of its decision, this Court had laid down the rule that the carrier can not limit its liability for injury to or loss of goods shipped where such injury or loss was caused by its own negligence.

Notes: 

Generally, the pecuniary liability of a common carrier may, by contract, be limited to a fixed amount. It is required, however, that the contract must be “reasonable and just under the circumstances and has been fairly and freely agreed upon.”

Please check out our tags for more personal case digests!

abuse of rights (2) Administrative Law (5) Agency (4) alteration (2) Article 19 (2) Article 26 of the Family Code (2) article 36 (4) Article 148 of the Family Code (2) Article 153 of the Family Code (3) Bill of Rights (3) Bright Future Technologies Inc. (1) capacity to contract marriage (2) capital (4) Case Digest (327) Chain of Custody (2) Civil Code (20) civil law (56) Civil Procedure (49) commercial law (80) Company Policies (2) Conflicts of Law (33) Constitutional Law (25) Constitutional Rights of Employers and Employees (2) Corporate Law (2) court of appeals (9) Credit Card (2) Credit Transactions (7) criminal law (3) criminal procedure (9) Different Kind Of Obligations (2) dismissal (2) divorce (2) Donation (2) Dreamwork (2) easements (2) ec2 (2) Effect of Partial payment (2) ejusdem generis (2) Election Law (2) Eminent Domain (4) Employee’s Rights (2) evidence (2) Expropriation (2) Extinguishment of Obligations – Compensation (2) family code (19) family home (4) Foreclosure (2) foreign divorce (2) forgery (2) G.R. No. 145391 (1) income (5) income taxation (4) Injunction (2) instagram (2) Insurable Interest (2) Insurance (54) Intellectual Property (6) japan (5) Judicial review (2) Just Compensation (2) labor law (37) Law School (318) Local Government Code (2) marriage (12) NAIA Terminal 3 (2) National Labor Relations Commission (7) negotiable instrument (10) Oblicon (19) Obligation and Contracts (25) Payment through Agent (2) Persons and Family Relations (21) Philippine Airlines (2) Philippine Airlines Inc. (2) Philippine citizenship (2) Police power (2) Political Law (33) Ponente (7) Premium Payment (2) programming (2) property (8) Provisional Remedies (2) Psychological Incapacity (4) public officers (2) Reinsurance (3) Remedial Law (56) Residence (2) Rights to Security of Tenure and Due Process (2) security (2) Seven (7) Cardinal Rights of Workers (2) shrines (2) situs (3) situs of taxation (3) Social justice (7) Sources of Labor Rights and Obligations (4) Succession (7) Taxation Law (6) temple (2) tokyo (3) TYPES of Employees (2) what is income (2)