Albert v. University Publishing
REITERATIONFacts
The Antecedents: Plaintiff Mariano A. Albert and defendant University Publishing Co. entered into a contract wherein plaintiff agreed to write a manuscript for P30,000.00, payable in 8 quarterly installments, with delivery due on or before December 31, 1948. Defendant paid P7,000.00 but defaulted on the remaining payments. Procedural History: Plaintiff sued for the balance of P23,000.00. The Court of First Instance of Manila found the defendant liable for breach of contract and ordered payment of P23,000.00 plus costs and interest. On appeal, this Court (Supreme Court) reduced the damages to P15,000.00, modifying the lower court's decision, and affirmed it as modified. Plaintiff then moved for execution upon finality of the decision, leading to the trial court's order for execution, which is now the subject of this appeal. The Appeal: Defendant-appellant argues that it should only pay P8,000.00, claiming the P7,000.00 previously paid should be deducted from the P15,000.00 awarded by the Supreme Court. This contention is based on the premise that the P7,000.00 was paid towards the original P30,000.00 contract price.
Issue(s)
Whether the P7,000.00 previously paid by the defendant-appellant should be deducted from the P15,000.00 awarded by the Supreme Court as modified damages.
Ruling
The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the Court of First Instance of Manila for the issuance of a writ of execution. The defendant-appellant is ordered to pay the plaintiff-appellee the sum of P15,000.00, plus legal interests thereon from the filing of the complaint until fully paid, and P22.00 as costs.
Ratio Decidendi
On the Issue of Deducting Prior Payments: The Supreme Court held that the defendant-appellant's claim to deduct the P7,000.00 previously paid from the P15,000.00 awarded by the appellate court is untenable. The trial court initially found the defendant liable for P30,000.00 in liquidated damages, from which the P7,000.00 payment was deducted, resulting in an order to pay P23,000.00. When this Court equitably reduced the liquidated damages to P15,000.00, it had already taken into consideration the fact that the trial court had deducted the P7,000.00 from the original amount. Therefore, the same P7,000.00 cannot be deducted a second time from the P15,000.00 liquidated damages awarded by this Court, as it was already accounted for in arriving at the P23,000.00 judgment that was subsequently modified. The defendant's appeal was from the judgment ordering it to pay P23,000.00, which was the amount reduced by this Court to P15,000.00. Consequently, the defendant should pay legal interest from the filing of the complaint until the full payment of P15,000.00.
Main Doctrine
The Supreme Court affirmed the order for the issuance of a writ of execution, holding that the defendant-appellant could not deduct the P7,000.00 previously paid from the P15,000.00 awarded by the appellate court, as this amount had already been factored into the reduction of damages from P30,000.00 to P15,000.00. The appellate court's decision, having equitably reduced the liquidated damages, already accounted for prior payments in arriving at the final award.