Case Digest (G.R. No. L-25048)
Facts:
Phoenix Assurance Company v. Macondray & Co., Inc., G.R. No. L-25048. May 13, 1975, Supreme Court Second Division, Aquino, J., writing for the Court.
On October 24, 1961 the SS Fernbank took aboard at Greenville, South Carolina, a shipment from Saco Lowell Shops consigned to the order of the Commercial Bank and Trust Company (arrival notice to Floro Spinning Mills, 280 Escolta, Manila). The shipment—insured for $5,450 with Phoenix Assurance Company of New York against all risks—was described in the bill of lading as one box and one carton of textile machinery spare parts, including ball bearings, weighing 930 pounds. The bill of lading bore a notation about a letter of credit (L/C No. FM-1512/61) for $4,183.74 opened by the consignee and showed freight paid at $46.20 based on gross weight.
Printed on the back of the bill of lading was Clause 17, a stipulation limiting carrier liability to $500 per package unless the shipper declared the nature and a higher valuation in writing on the bill and paid extra freight on that basis. The bill further bound shipper, owner, consignee and holder to all its printed stipulations. The SS Fernbank arrived Manila on November 23, 1961; the second carton was found in bad order and almost empty, containing only a worthless steel wire clip.
Floro Spinning Mills filed claims with Macondray & Co., Inc. (the vessel’s agent) and with Ker & Company, Ltd. (agent of the insurer) for the value of the missing cargo: $1,512.78 (equivalent to P4,554.98 at the exchange rate of 3.011). Macondray & Co., Inc. invoked Clause 17 and maintained carrier liability was limited to $500 per package. Phoenix Assurance Company, having paid Floro’s claim, sued Macondray as subrogee to recover the full peso equivalent of the loss (Civil Case No. 51900).
The trial court found as fact that the L/C notation was not a declaration of value required by Clause 17 and that freight had been paid on the basis of weight (not ad valorem); it rendered judgment ordering Macondray to pay Phoenix P1,505.50 (the peso equivalent of $500 at P3.011) and adjudged costs against the plain...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Procedural: Did the Court of First Instance err in holding the carrier’s liability limited to $500 under the bill of lading’s Clause 17?
- Substantive/procedural: Was the trial court correct in adjudging costs against the plaintiff-appellant under the circumstances?
- Substantive: At what conversion rate should the dollar-limited liability ($500) be satisfied — the conversion rate at the time of the trial court’s decision or a...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)