GR 47933; (July, 1942) (Digest)
G.R. No. 47933 ; July 29, 1942
PANAY AUTOBUS COMPANY, INC., petitioner, vs. CRISANTA PASTOR, ET AL., respondents.
FACTS
Early on February 11, 1938, the deceased Concepcion Gallopin, accompanied by Carmen Areda, was a passenger on truck No. 408 owned by the Panay Autobus Company, Inc., driven by Felicisimo Tilos. They were seated at the extreme right of the second bench behind the driver’s seat. During the trip, Gallopin stretched her right arm beyond the bus railing, apparently to point out rice fields to her companion. Her arm was caught and broken by another truck (driven by Francisco Yap) coming from the opposite direction. The precise timing of her gesture relative to the passing of the buses and the exact distance between them are not detailed in the record. Gallopin suffered profuse bleeding from her wrist and, despite medical treatment at hospitals in Sara and Jaro, Iloilo, died the next day from hemorrhage and severe shock. The heirs of the deceased (Crisanta, Salome, and Jose Pastor) filed an action for damages against the bus company. The trial court absolved the petitioner. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision, finding the petitioner’s driver negligent for driving “almost in the middle of a 6 meter road” and held the petitioner liable for breach of contract of carriage, awarding damages of P2,000 to the respondents. The petitioner appealed this decision to the Supreme Court via certiorari.
ISSUE
Whether the petitioner, Panay Autobus Company, Inc., through its driver, was negligent and thus liable for breach of contract for the death of passenger Concepcion Gallopin.
RULING
The Supreme Court REVERSED the judgment of the Court of Appeals and ABSOLVED the petitioner of the complaint. The Court held that driving at an appropriate speed, almost at the middle of a six-meter highway that was without traffic at the time, did not constitute negligence. The Court found that the driver’s manner of driving could not have caused the injury independently of the deceased’s own act of stretching her arm beyond the bus railing. The driver had no knowledge of the passenger’s extended arm and had the right to assume all passengers were taking usual precautions for their safety. Given this assumption and the driver maintaining a reasonably safe distance from the oncoming bus, the negligence could not be attributed to him. The Supreme Court ruled that the act of the deceased in stretching her arm at the time of the accident was the proximate cause of her injury and subsequent death.