Case Digest (G.R. No. L-23727)
Facts:
In Snow White Ice Cream & Ice Drop Factory and/or Jose Futchian Ching (Should Be So Dee) v. Emilio Garcia (Deceased), Substituted by Jovita Lozano Vda. de Garcia, G.R. No. L-23727, November 29, 1971, the Supreme Court En Banc, Fernando, J., writing for the Court, resolved a petition for review of a decision of the Workmen's Compensation Commission.Petitioners are Snow White Ice Cream & Ice Drop Factory and/or Jose Futchian Ching (listed in the caption as the employers). Respondents are the heirs of the deceased claimant Emilio Garcia, substituted by his widow Jovita Lozano Vda. de Garcia for herself and on behalf of their minor children. The dispute concerned whether an employer-employee relationship existed between Garcia (an ice drop vendor) and Snow White Ice Cream, which would render the employer liable under the Workmen’s Compensation Act for injuries Garcia sustained while peddling ice drops.
Commissioner Jose Sanchez initially heard the case and found that Garcia began working for petitioner in 1953 as an ice drop vendor, paid on a commission basis (P0.02 per ice drop) and selling to the public at P0.05. Sanchez found that Garcia performed duties including breaking block ice and placing crushed ice into a pushcart that bore petitioner’s trade name, was supplied by petitioner with crushed ice, icepicks, salt, cap and pushcart, returned unsold ice with full credit, and was charged P0.03 for every ice drop he obtained. While preparing his assigned pushcart on July 27, 1960, an ice block fell on Garcia’s foot; after further injury and infection he underwent amputation below the knee and incurred about P700 in medical expenses.
Commissioner Sanchez rendered a decision on July 15, 1963 awarding compensation to Garcia (substituted later by his heirs after his death). On administrative appeal to the Commission en banc there was no majority vote to set aside Sanchez’s award: Chairman Nieves Baens del Rosario voted to sustain while Commissioner Cesareo Perez voted to reverse; the Associate Commissioner who rendered the decision had retired. A motion for reconsideration to the Commission en banc was denied with the same split. Petitioners then fi...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did an employer-employee relationship exist between the deceased claimant Emilio Garcia and petitioner Snow White Ice Cream & Ice Drop Factory?
- Does the fourteen-month delay in filing the claim for compensation deprive the Workmen’s Compensation Commission of jurisdiction or otherwise defeat the claim?
- Should the Commission’s findings of fact be disturbed by the Court?
- What is the effect of the Commission en banc’...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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