Case Digest (G.R. No. 165855)
Facts:
Harish Ramnani, Chandru P. Pessumal, Maureen Ramnani, and Jose Manacop v. QBE Insurance Philippines, Inc., G.R. No. 165855, October 31, 2007, Supreme Court Second Division, Tinga, J., writing for the Court.Lavine Loungewear Mfg. Inc. procured six fire insurance policies from various insurers, including Philippine Fire and Marine Insurance Corporation (PhilFire), Rizal Surety and Insurance Company (Rizal Surety), Tabacalera Insurance Company, First Lepanto-Taisho Insurance Corporation, Equitable Insurance Corporation, and Reliance Insurance Corporation. A fire on August 1, 1998 destroyed Lavine properties and supplies; the Office of the Insurance Commission later fixed Lavine’s recoverable amount at P112,245,324.34. Most policies had been endorsed to Equitable PCI Bank as security for loans obtained by Lavine.
A board dispute in Lavine led to rival claimants to the insurance proceeds. After the board appointed Chandru as president and Lavine’s representative to negotiate with insurers, Chandru demanded that insurers pay Lavine (which would then pay the bank). Lavine nevertheless filed suit against the insurers and Equitable Bank before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Pasig City (Civil Case No. 68287) seeking to enjoin direct payment to the bank.
Petitioners (including Harish Ramnani) moved to intervene, claiming they were Lavine’s incumbent directors and contesting Chandru’s authority. After trial, RTC Branch 71 (Judge Celso D. Lavina) rendered a decision on April 2, 2002 in favor of the intervenors, dismissing the Complaint and directing among other things the refund by the bank and payment by the insurers to plaintiff through intervenors; the decision awarded damages, interest and attorney’s fees, and ordered cancellation of mortgage annotations.
On April 3, 2002 petitioners moved for execution pending appeal; RTC granted execution pending appeal on May 17, 2002, and issued a Writ of Execution Pending Appeal on May 20, 2002. The Branch Sheriff (Cresenciano K. Rabello, Jr.) filed an ex parte manifestation on May 24, 2002 stating that Rizal Surety had changed its corporate name to QBE Insurance (Phils.) Inc., and the RTC, by order dated May 27, 2002, allowed execution to proceed against Rizal under its alleged new name QBE. Acting on the writ, the sheriff served a Notice of Garnishment on ANZ Bank on March 24, 2003 to levy Rizal’s/QBE’s deposits.
QBE filed an urgent motion with the RTC to lift the May 27, 2002 order and the March 24, 2003 garnishment, asserting it was a separate corporation and not a party to Civil Case No. 68287. The RTC denied QBE’s motion on May 15, 2003. QBE then secured relief from the Court of Appeals by certiorari, which on May 31, 2004 set aside the assailed RTC orders as violative of due process and for having been premised on an unverified assertion that Rizal had become QBE; the Court of Appeals held the two entities distinct, QBE being only a management agent.
Petitioners sought relief from the Supreme Court to reinstate the RTC orders and permit execution against QBE. Subsequently, however, the Supreme Court, in a separate petition (Manacop v. Equitable PCIBank, G.R. Nos. 162814-17), promulgated a decision on August 25, 2005 affirming the Court of Appeals’ annulment of the RTC’s May 17, 2002 order granting execution pending appeal and the M...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Is the present petition challenging certain RTC orders rendered moot or functus officio by the Supreme Court’s August 25, 2005 decision in Manacop v. Equitable PCIBank (G.R. Nos. 162814-17)?
- (Subsidiary) Should the Court reach the merits and determine whether the RTC gravely abused its discretion in treating QBE Insurance Philippines, Inc. as the same entity as Rizal Surety and Insurance Company and ordering execution/garnishment...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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