Case Digest (G.R. No. 9806)
Facts:
Leonides Lopez Liso v. Manuel Tambunting, G.R. No. 9806. January 19, 1916, the Supreme Court En Banc, Araullo, J., writing for the Court.The plaintiff-appellee, Leonides Lopez Liso, sued the defendant-appellant, Manuel Tambunting, to recover P2,000 as the alleged reasonable value of professional medical services rendered to Tambunting’s daughter from March 10 to July 15, 1913. The complaint alleged that Tambunting refused to pay despite demands.
At the Court of First Instance of Manila the parties introduced testimony and documentary exhibits. The plaintiff submitted a detailed statement of services (Exhibit A) and claimed P2,000; the defendant produced a receipt for P700 (Exhibit 1) and asserted that this showed payment which extinguished the obligation. The trial court, after hearing conflicting testimony, found the reasonable value of the services to be P700 — taking into account that the plaintiff himself, immediately after finishing the services, asked only for P700 — and on December 17, 1913 entered judgment ordering the defendant to pay P700 (with no express finding on costs). A motion for a new trial was denied.
Tambunting appealed by forwarding a proper bill of exceptions to this Court, contesting both the amount fixed by the trial court and the trial court’s finding that the P700 had not actually been paid despite the defendant’s possession of the receipt. The...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the trial court err in fixing the reasonable value of the medical services at P700 instead of the P2,000 claimed by the plaintiff?
- Did the defendant prove payment of P700 so as to extinguish the obligation, and does the legal presumption arising from a creditor’s surrender or the debtor’s possession of the instrum...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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