G.R. No. 119092 December 10, 1998
SANITARY STEAM LAUNDRY, INC., petitioner, vs. THE COURT OF APPEALS, NICANOR BERNABE III, et al., respondents.

FACTS

This case arose from a head-on collision on Aguinaldo Highway in Imus, Cavite on August 31, 1980, between petitioner Sanitary Steam Laundry’s Mercedes Benz panel truck and a Cimarron vehicle. The Cimarron, driven by Rolando Hernandez, was carrying employees of Project Management Consultants, Inc., along with their family and friends, returning to Manila from a beach outing. The panel truck, driven by Herman Hernandez, was returning to its plant after a delivery. The truck driver claimed he swerved into the opposite lane to avoid a suddenly stopping jeepney, resulting in the collision. The accident caused the deaths of the Cimarron’s driver and two passengers, Jason Bernabe and Dalmacio Salunoy, and injured several others. The Regional Trial Court found petitioner’s driver solely negligent and held petitioner liable for damages, a decision affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
Petitioner appealed, contending the Cimarron’s driver was contributorily negligent, which should mitigate or extinguish its liability. It alleged the Cimarron was overloaded, had four adults in the front seat including the driver, and was operating with only one functional headlight in violation of traffic laws. Petitioner argued these violations created a presumption of negligence under Article 2185 of the Civil Code and that the sudden swerving of its truck to avoid an obstacle did not constitute negligence per se.

ISSUE

Whether the driver of the Cimarron was guilty of contributory negligence such that petitioner’s liability for damages should be reduced.

RULING

The Supreme Court ruled that the driver of the Cimarron was not guilty of contributory negligence. The legal logic is that for contributory negligence to apply, the negligence of the injured party must have been contemporaneous and proximate to the principal negligence, contributing to the injury itself. The Court found that the alleged traffic violations by the Cimarron’s driver—overloading, improper seating, and a non-functioning headlight—were not the proximate cause of the collision. The proximate cause was the panel truck’s invasion of the opposite lane. The truck driver’s claim of avoiding a jeepney was unsupported by evidence and deemed a mere afterthought. The violations, while possibly subject to administrative penalties, did not establish a causal link to the accident. The Court modified the damages awarded, recalculating the loss of earning capacity for Dalmacio Salunoy using the formula 2/3 x (80 – age at death) and disallowing the attorney’s fees for lack of justification, but otherwise affirmed the finding of petitioner’s exclusive liability.