Toyota Shaw Vs CA
Toyota Shaw Vs CA
Toyota Shaw Vs CA
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* FIRST DIVISION.
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ground upon which Sosa claimed moral damages is that since it was
known to his friends, townmates, and relatives that he was buying
a Toyota Lite Ace which they expected to see on his birthday, he
suffered humiliation, shame, and sleepless nights when the van was
not delivered. The van became the subject matter of talks during
his celebration that he may not have paid for it, and this created an
impression against his business standing and reputation. At the
bottom of this claim is nothing but misplaced pride and ego. He
should not have announced his plan to buy a Toyota Lite Ace
knowing that he might not be able to pay the full purchase price. It
was he who brought embarrassment upon himself by bragging
about a thing which he did not own yet. Since Sosa is not entitled to
moral damages and there being no award for temperate, liquidated,
or compensatory damages, he is likewise not entitled to exemplary
damages. Under Article 2229 of the Civil Code, exemplary or
corrective damages are imposed by way of example or correction for
the public good, in addition to moral, temperate, liquidated, or
compensatory damages. Also, it is settled that for attorneyÊs fees to
be granted, the court must explicitly state in the body of the
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decision, and not only in the dispositive portion thereof, the legal
reason for the award of attorneyÊs fees. No such explicit
determination thereon was made in the body of the decision of the
trial court. No reason thus exists for such an award.
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4 June 1989
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a) downpayment ·P53,148.00
b) insurance ·P13,970.00
c) BLT registration fee ·P 1,067.00
CHMO fee ·P 2,715.00
service fee ·P 500.00
accessories ·P29,000.00
CONDITIONS OF SALES
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2 Annex of Answer in Civil Case No. 89-14; Rollo, 82; Annex „E‰ of
Petition; Rollo, 85.
3 Referring to B.A. Finance.
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ment was not made within three days. ToyotaÊs counsel8
answered through a letter dated 27 November 1989
refusing to accede to the demands of Sosa. But even before
this answer was made and received by Sosa, the latter filed
on 20 November 1989 with Branch 38 of the Regional Trial
Court (RTC) of Marinduque a complaint against Toyota for
damages under Articles 19 and 9
21 of the Civil Code in the
total amount of P1,230,000.00. He alleges, inter alia, that:
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After trial
11
on the issues agreed upon during the pre-trial
session, the trial court rendered
12
on 18 February 1992 a
decision in favor of Sosa. It ruled that Exhibit „A,‰ the
„AGREEMENTS BETWEEN MR. SOSA AND POPONG
BERNARDO,‰ was a valid perfected contract of sale
between Sosa and Toyota which bound Toyota to deliver the
vehicle to Sosa, and further agreed with Sosa that Toyota
acted in bad faith in selling to another the unit already
reserved for him.
As to ToyotaÊs contention that Bernardo had no
authority to bind it through Exhibit „A,‰ the trial court held
that the extent of BernardoÊs authority „was not made
known to plaintiff,‰ for as testified to by Quirante, „they do
not volunteer any information as to the companyÊs sales
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policy and guidelines because they are internal matters.‰
Moreover, „[f]rom the beginning of the transaction up to its
consummation when the downpayment was made by the
plaintiff, the defendants had made known to the plaintiff
the impression that Popong Bernardo is an authorized
sales executive as it permitted the latter to do acts within
the scope of an apparent authority holding him14 out to the
public as possessing power to do these acts.‰ Bernardo
then „was an agent of the defendant
15
Toyota Shaw, Inc. and
hence bound the defendants.‰
The court further declared that „Luna Sosa proved his
social standing in the community and suffered besmirched
reputation, wounded feelings and sleepless16
nights for
which he ought to be compensated.‰ Accordingly, it
disposed as follows:
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11 Id., 83-84.
12 Id., 90-108. Per Judge Romulo A. Lopez.
13 Rollo, 104.
14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Id., 107.
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SO ORDERED.
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17 Annex „A‰ of Petition; Rollo, 45-62. Per Tayao-Jaguros, L., J., with
Elbinias, J. and Salas, B., JJ., concurring.
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fected:
ART. 1475. The contract of sale is perfected at the moment there
is a meeting of minds upon the thing which is the object of the
contract and upon the price.
From that moment, the parties may reciprocally demand
performance, subject to the provisions of the law governing the form
of contracts.
What is clear from Exhibit „A‰ is not what the trial court
and the Court of Appeals appear to see. It is not a contract
of sale. No obligation on the part of Toyota to transfer
ownership of a determinate thing to Sosa and no
correlative obligation on the part of the latter to pay
therefor a price certain appears therein. The provision on
the downpayment of P100,000.00 made no specific
reference to a sale of a vehicle. If it was intended for a
contract of sale, it could only refer to a sale on installment
basis, as the VSP executed the following day confirmed.
But nothing was mentioned about the full purchase price
and the manner the installments were to be paid.
This Court had already ruled that a definite agreement
on the manner of payment of the price is an essential
element in the 18formation of a binding and enforceable
contract of sale. This is so because the agreement as to
the manner of payment goes into the price such that a
disagreement on the manner of payment is tantamount to a
failure to agree on the price. Definiteness as to the price is
an essential element19
of a binding agreement to sell
personal property.
Moreover, Exhibit „A‰ shows the absence of a meeting of
minds between Toyota and Sosa. For one thing, Sosa did
not even sign it. For another, Sosa was well aware from its
title, written in bold letters, viz.,
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18 Velasco vs. Court of Appeals, 51 SCRA 439 [1973], citing Navarro vs.
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20 See Harry Keeler Electric Co. vs. Rodriguez, 44 Phil. 19 [1922]; B.A.
Finance Corp. vs. Court of Appeals, 211 SCRA 112 [1992].
21 Cruz vs. Court of Appeals, 201 SCRA 495 [1991]; Pineda vs. Court of
Appeals, 226 SCRA 754 [1993].
22 ARTURO M. TOLENTINO, Commentaries and Jurisprudence on
the Civil Code of the Philippines, vol. 4, 1985 ed., 411; EDGARDO L.
PARAS, Civil Code of the Philippines Annotated, vol. 4, 1989 ed., 490.
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23 See Beltran vs. PAIC Finance Corp., 209 SCRA 105 [1992].
24 International Harvester Macleod, Inc. vs. Medina, 183 SCRA 485 [1990].
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p.m. in order to pick-up the vehicle but the defendant, for reasons
known only to its representatives, refused and/or failed to release
the vehicle to the plaintiff. Plaintiff demanded for an explanation,
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but nothing was given; . . . (Emphasis supplied)
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25 Rollo, 66.
26 See Central Azucarera de Bais vs. Court of Appeals, 188 SCRA 328
[1990]; Koa vs. Court of Appeals, 219 SCRA 541 [1993]; Scott
Consultants & Resource Development Corp. vs. Court of Appeals, G.R.
No. 112916, 16 March 1995.
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