GR 43299; (January, 1937) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-43299; January 29, 1937
RAYMUNDO MERIS MORALES, plaintiff-appellant, vs. NEMESIO FONTANOS and LORENZO CARLITOS as Acting Register of Deeds of the Province of Pangasinan during the year 1930, defendants-appellees.
FACTS
Plaintiff-appellant Raymundo Meris Morales filed a civil action to annul a pacto de retro sale he claimed was a usurious loan. Pending that case, the parties entered into a compromise agreement: the plaintiff would withdraw his action, and the defendant would deliver an additional sum, making a total of P7,000 as the selling price, with the plaintiff having the right to redeem the land within three years. Pursuant to the compromise, the court dismissed the original action. When the plaintiff later offered to redeem within the stipulated period, the defendant refused. The plaintiff then filed this case seeking to annul both the compromise agreement and the original pacto de retro sale.
ISSUE
Whether the allegations in the amended complaint constitute a sufficient cause of action for the annulment of the compromise agreement and the pacto de retro sale.
RULING
No. The amended complaint fails to state a cause of action. A compromise agreement, as defined in the Civil Code, has the authority of res judicata between the parties. It can only be annulled on grounds of error, deceit, violence, or forgery of documents, none of which were alleged. The defendant’s refusal to allow redemption is not a ground for annulment but gives rise only to an action to enforce the compromise. Furthermore, because the compromise has the effect of res judicata, the validity of the original sale—which was the very subject of the compromised action—can no longer be relitigated. The order sustaining the demurrer and the subsequent dismissal of the complaint were proper. The appealed judgment is affirmed.
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