Case Digest (G.R. No. 259982)
Facts:
Pacific Ocean Manning, Inc. and V. Ships UK Ltd./Nordic American Tankers Limited employed Nicolas F. Bobiles as pumpman under a POEA-approved contract covered by a Filipino ITF IBF TCC AMOSUP CBA; Bobiles suffered lumbar injuries aboard the Nordic Vega and was repatriated on February 28, 2017. The company-designated physician did not issue a final disability assessment within the initial 120-day period and later issued a nonconclusive assessment; grievance proceedings and a claim for total permanent disability ensued.
The NCMB awarded Bobiles US$102,308.00 for total permanent disability plus ten percent attorney's fees on August 21, 2018; the Court of Appeals on July 15, 2021 affirmed with modification and reduced the award to US$60,000.00; petitioners filed a Rule 45 petition with the Supreme Court.
Issues:
- Does the failure of the company-designated physician to issue a final medical assessment within the POEA-SEC periods render the seafarer’s disability total and permanent?
- Can attorney’s fees be awarded under Art. 111, Labor Code, in a disability indemnification case not involving unlawful withholding of wages?
- Do Art. 2208(2), (8), or (11) of the Civil Code justify an award of attorney’s fees in this contract-based disability claim?
Ruling:
The Court held that the absence of a final and conclusive assessment from the company-designated physician within the applicable period rendered Bobiles’s disability total and permanent. The Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ modification awarding US$60,000.00 under the POEA-SEC schedule, subject to six percent legal interest from finality until full payment, but deleted the award of attorney’s fees; the petition was partly granted.
Ratio:
Relying on prior rulings including Elburg, Paleracio, and related authorities, the Court explained that a company physician’s contemporaneous finding that further treatment or reevaluation is required prevents a medical report from being final and may justify extension to 240 days, but failure to issue a final assessment within the extended period causes the law to consider the disability permanent and total. On attorney’s fees, the Court held that Art. 111, Labor Code applies only to unlawful withholding of wages; Art. 2208(2) permits fees only where the defendant’s act compelled litigation with third persons; Art. 2208(8) applies solely to indemnity actions under workmen’s compensation or employer’s liability laws; and Art. 2208(11) requires specific factual, legal, or equitable justification — which was absent here, especially as petitioners paid medical costs and sickness allowances.
Doctrine:
- Under the POEA-SEC and the Court’s precedents, failure of the company-designated physician to issue a final medical assessment within the prescribed period results in the seafarer’s disability being deemed total and permanent.
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