Title
Bachelor Express, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals
Case
G.R. No. 85691
Decision Date
Jul 31, 1990
Bus passengers died after panic from a stabbing; court held carrier liable for negligence, failing to prove extraordinary diligence in ensuring passenger safety.
stampede
passenger safety
extraordinary diligence
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 206987)

Procedural Posture

The trial court (Regional Trial Court, Branch I, Butuan City) dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint for collection of a sum of money, effectively absolving the petitioners of liability. The Court of Appeals reversed and set aside the dismissal, finding petitioners jointly and solidarily liable and awarding P75,000 to the heirs of Ornominio Beter and P45,000 to the heirs of Narcisa Rautraut. The petitioners sought review before the Supreme Court, contesting factual findings and the appellate court’s denial of their motion for reconsideration.

Factual Background

Facts as found in the record: while en route, the bus stopped to pick up a passenger; about fifteen minutes later a passenger in the rear suddenly stabbed a Philippine Constabulary soldier, provoking commotion and panic. When the bus stopped, Ornominio and Narcisa were found lying on the road; Ornominio had sustained fatal head injuries and Narcisa later died of severe injuries. The assailant alighted and fled but was killed by police. Witness testimony conflicted regarding whether the victims jumped through windows or fell out through the front door when the crowd surged; testimony also addressed the bus’s speed, the opening of the door while the bus was moving, and the bus’s door configuration.

Petitioners’ Contentions

Petitioners argued (1) proximate cause was the criminal act of a third party (the passenger who stabbed another), constituting force majeure or caso fortuito; (2) they exercised due diligence in hiring and in operations and were not negligent; (3) the victims jumped from the moving bus without any fault of the driver or conductor; and (4) common carriers are not insurers of passengers, and liability, if any, is contractual (culpa contractual) and requires proof of negligence.

Applicable Law and Constitutional Basis

Applicable statutory and doctrinal provisions relied upon by the courts include Articles 1732, 1733, 1755 and 1756 of the New Civil Code (defining common carriers and prescribing their duty of extraordinary diligence and the presumption of negligence in case of death or injury to passengers) and Article 1174 on force majeure/caso fortuito. The decision was rendered in 1990; the 1987 Constitution is the governing constitutional framework by instruction for the analysis, while the courts’ substantive reasoning relied principally on the cited Civil Code provisions and established jurisprudence.

Presumption of Liability of Common Carriers

Under Article 1756, a common carrier is presumed negligent in cases of passenger death or injury unless it proves it observed the extraordinary diligence required by Articles 1733 and 1755. The Court recognized Bachelor Express as a common carrier subject to this presumption, shifting to petitioners the burden to prove they exercised the requisite extraordinary diligence to rebut the presumption.

Force Majeure/Caso Fortuito Standard Applied

Petitioners invoked force majeure for the criminal act of the passenger. The Court reiterated the established test for caso fortuito: the event must be independent of human will, unforeseeable or unavoidable even if foreseen, make performance impossible, and the obligor must not have participated in aggravating the injury. The Court noted that even where a fortuitous event is shown, a common carrier is not absolved unless it also proves absence of negligence in the events surrounding the accident.

Trial Court’s Findings and Rationale for Dismissal

The trial court credited defense testimony suggesting the victims panicked and jumped through windows and found no negligence by the carrier’s personnel. It concluded the carrier personnel had a right to accept passengers absent manifest signs of violence or drunkenness and that the incident did not establish fault by the company or its employees.

Court of Appeals’ Findings and Reasons for Reversal

The Court of Appeals re-examined testimony and found material facts ignored or misapprehended by the trial court. It gave greater weight to the testimony of an uninterested eyewitness (Leonila Cullano) that the conductor opened the front door during the panic and that the victims fell through the front door when the passengers surged, undermining the defense claim that the victims jumped out the window. The appellate court also highlighted inconsistencies and probable bias in the conductor’s account, testimony indicating the bus was already moving at appreciable speed (30–40 miles per hour as estimated by the conductor), the driver’s belated stopping, and evidence that the bus was equipped with only a single door despite its size and capacity. On these bases the appellate court concluded the carrier failed to exercise extraordinary diligence and reversed the dismissal.

Supreme Court’s Analysis on Negligence and Force Majeure

The Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals’ findings. It accepted that the proximate cause of the fatalities was the passenger’s violent act, but emphasized that force majeure alone does not absolve a common carrier unless absence of negligence is also shown. Given the appellate court’s factual findings—delay in stopping, substantial speed despite a recent pick-up, the door opening or giving way while the bus was moving, the conductor’s panic and delayed response, and regulatory noncompliance in door configuration—the petitioners failed to rebut the presumption of negligence

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