G.R. No. L-11037, December 29, 1960
EDGARDO CARIAGA, ET AL., plaintiffs-appellants, vs. LAGUNA TAYABAS BUS COMPANY, defendant-appellant. MANILA RAILROAD COMPANY, defendant-appellee.

FACTS

On June 18, 1952, a Laguna Tayabas Bus Company (LTB) bus, carrying passenger Edgardo Cariaga, collided with a Manila Railroad Company (MRR) train at a railroad crossing in Bay, Laguna. The bus driver died instantly, and Edgardo Cariaga suffered severe injuries, including a fractured skull requiring the removal of the right frontal lobe of his brain and the insertion of a tantalum plate. He was hospitalized for extended periods and was left with significantly reduced mental capacity and physical disability, rendering him unfit for work or study. LTB paid for his medical and hospital expenses and a subsistence allowance. Edgardo Cariaga and his parents filed an action for damages against both LTB and MRR. The LTB filed a cross-claim against MRR, alleging the accident was due to MRR’s negligence for not providing a crossing bar. The trial court found the bus driver solely negligent, sentenced LTB to pay Edgardo Cariaga compensatory damages, and dismissed the cross-claim against MRR. Both the Cariagas and LTB appealed.

ISSUE

1. Whether the Manila Railroad Company was contributorily negligent and thus liable for the accident.
2. Whether the compensatory damages awarded to Edgardo Cariaga were adequate.
3. Whether moral and actual damages were properly awarded or denied to Edgardo Cariaga and his parents.

RULING

1. The Manila Railroad Company was not contributorily negligent. The trial court’s findings, based on credible testimony, established that the train engineer sounded the locomotive whistle several times as the train approached the crossing, including when it was about 300 meters away. Another LTB bus heeded the warning and stopped. The bus driver involved in the accident ignored the warnings. The LTB failed to prove its claim that the MRR engineer also violated the law by failing to ring the bell. Therefore, the accident was due solely to the negligence of the LTB bus driver, and the cross-claim against MRR was correctly dismissed.
2. The compensatory damages awarded to Edgardo Cariaga were inadequate and were increased. The Court considered the severe and permanent nature of his injuries, which left him physically and mentally incapacitated, unfit for work, and unable to finish his medical studies. The loss of his future earning capacity as a potential doctor was a natural and probable consequence of the breach of contract that could have been reasonably foreseen. The award was increased from the original amount to adequately compensate for this loss.
3. Moral damages were not recoverable. The action against LTB was based on a breach of contract of carriage (culpa contractual). Under the Civil Code, moral damages are not recoverable in a purely contractual breach where the defendant acted in good faith and without fraud or bad faith. The cited cases where moral damages were awarded were decided before the new Civil Code and/or involved different causes of action (culpa aquiliana). The award of moral damages by the trial court was eliminated. The claim of Edgardo Cariaga’s parents for moral and actual damages was also denied. They were not parties to the contract of carriage, and they could not base a claim on quasi-delict as they themselves were not injured in the accident. The appealed judgment was modified by increasing the compensatory damages to Edgardo Cariaga and eliminating the award of moral damages, and was affirmed in all other respects.