SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 138884.
June 6, 2002]
RODOLFO DE LEON, petitioner, vs. COURT OF APPEALS and SPOUSES ESTELITA and AVELINO BATUNGBACAL, respondents.
D E C I S I O N
QUISUMBING,
J.:
Before us is a special
civil action for certiorari and prohibition under Rule 65 of the Rules
of Court. It seeks to annul and set
aside the resolution[1] dated January 13, 1999 of the Court of Appeals, in
CA-G.R. CV No. 57989, denying petitioner’s motion (a) to dismiss the appeals of
private respondents, and (b) to suspend the period to file appellee’s
brief. Also assailed is the CA
resolution[2] dated April 19,
1999, denying petitioner’s motion for reconsideration.
The antecedent facts are
as follows:
On March 11, 1996,
petitioner Rodolfo de Leon filed with the Regional Trial Court of Bataan,
Branch 3, a complaint[3] for a sum of money
plus damages, with a prayer for preliminary attachment, against herein private
respondents Avelino and Estelita Batungbacal.
The complaint averred that private respondent Estelita Batungbacal
executed a promissory note[4] in favor of herein petitioner for her P500,000
loan with stipulated interest at 5 percent monthly. The loan and interest remained unpaid allegedly because the check
issued by Estelita was dishonored.
Private respondents filed an answer with counterclaim. Estelita admitted the loan obligation, but
Avelino denied liability on the ground that his wife was not the designated
administrator and therefore had no authority to bind the conjugal
partnership. Avelino further averred that
his wife contracted the debt without his knowledge and consent.
Based on Estelita’s
admission, petitioner filed a motion for partial judgment against Estelita,
which the trial court granted in an order[5] dated May 14,
1996:
WHEREFORE, the Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings is hereby granted in accordance with Sec. 4 of Rule 36, Rules of Court. As prayed for, judgment is hereby rendered against Estelita Q. Batungbacal, ordering her to pay plaintiff Rodolfo de Leon the principal amount of the loan obligation of P500,000.00 plus the stipulated interest which has accrued thereon at 5% per month since May 1995 until now, plus interest at the legal rate on said accrued interest from date of judicial demand until the obligation is fully paid.
SO ORDERED.
Counsel for private
respondent spouses received a copy of the partial judgment on May 21, 1996, but
no appeal was taken therefrom. Thus,
petitioner filed a motion for execution of said judgment on June 6, 1996. Counsel for private respondents was furnished
a copy of the motion on the same date.
As private respondents interposed no objection, a writ of execution was
correspondingly issued. The sheriff
then proceeded to execute the writ and partially satisfied the judgment award
against the paraphernal property of Estelita and the conjugal properties of the
private respondents with due notice to the latter and their counsel. Again, private respondents interposed no
objection.
Pre-trial was held and
trial proceeded on two main issues: (1)
whether the loan was secured with the knowledge and consent of the husband and
whether the same redounded to the benefit of the conjugal partnership; and (2)
whether the capital of the husband would be liable if the conjugal assets or
the paraphernal property of the wife were insufficient to satisfy the loan
obligation. On June 2, 1997, the trial
court rendered judgment[6] ordering private respondent Avelino Batungbacal to
pay the amount of the loan plus interest and other amounts in accordance with
Article 121 of the Family Code.
Counsel for private
respondent spouses received a copy of the decision on June 6, 1997. Avelino through counsel, filed a notice of
appeal[7] on June 19, 1997.
In a notice of appearance[8] dated June 25, 1997 bearing the conformity solely of
Estelita, a new counsel appeared in collaboration with the counsel of record
for the private respondents. On the
same date, Estelita through said new counsel, served a notice that she is
appealing both decisions promulgated on May 14, 1996, and June 2, 1997, to the
Court of Appeals. However, the trial
court, in an order[9] dated July 7, 1997 denied the notice of appeal[10] filed by Estelita on the ground that said notice was
filed beyond the reglementary period to appeal.
Private respondents’
appeal was docketed with the respondent Court of Appeals as CA-G.R. CV No.
57989. Petitioner then filed with the
Court of Appeals a Motion to Dismiss the Appeal with Motion to Suspend period
to file Appellee’s Brief[11] on October 21, 1998. Petitioner based his motion to dismiss on the following
grounds: (1) that the statement of the
case as well as the statement of the facts in the appellants’ brief do not have
page references to the record, and that the authorities relied upon in the arguments
are not cited by the page of the report at which the case begins and the page
of the report on which the citation is found; (2) that no copy of the appealed
decision of the lower court was attached to the appellants’ brief, in violation
of the Internal Rules of the Court of Appeals; (3) that private respondents
furnished only one copy of the appellants’ brief to the petitioner, also in
violation of the Rules of Court; (4) that the decision promulgated against
Estelita on May 14, 1996 is no longer appealable; and (5) that the notice of
appeal filed on June 25, 1996 by Estelita concerning the decision of the trial
court against Avelino was filed beyond the reglementary period to appeal.[12] The motion also
prayed that the period for filing the appellee’s brief be suspended in view of
the pendency of the motion to dismiss.[13]
Private respondents, in
their opposition,[14] insisted that the statements of the case as well as
the statement of facts in their brief contained page references to the record,
and that Estelita had seasonably filed her appeal. Private respondent spouses also stated that they had filed an
Amended Appellants’ Brief[15] on November 27,
1998 and that two copies thereof had been served on petitioner together with
copies of the trial court’s decisions.
On January 13, 1999, the
Court of Appeals issued the assailed resolution[16] denying petitioner’s motion to dismiss and virtually
admitting the Amended Appellants’ Brief as follows:
As submitted by appellants, they adopted pertinent portions of the appealed Decision in the Statement of the Case, indicated specific pages in the appealed decision where the quoted portions are found. In the bottom of page 2 of the brief, is the quoted portions of the decision, referring to pages 1 and 2 thereof. On page 3 of the brief is the dispositive portion, taken on page 11 of the decision. The rest of the narration in the Statement of the Case are the specific dates of the pleadings, orders, and portions of the decision citing the page references where they are found.
Two (2) copies of the Amended Brief were served upon appellee with the appealed Decision attached as Annex “A”, and “B”.
Appellant Estellita Batungbacal explained that her appeal was filed on time. She cited Guevarra, et. al. vs. Court of Appeals, et. al., L-49017 and 49024, that a partial judgment may be appealed only together with the judgment in the main case. She personally received a copy of the main Decision, dated June 2, 1997 on June 10, 1997, and filed her notice of appeal dated June 25, 1995 (sic) sent by registered mail on even date, per Registry Receipt No. 2618, attached as Annex “C” hereof, thereby showing that the notice of appeal was filed within 15 days from receipt of the Decision appealed from. At any rate, the merit of appellee’s contention that appellant Estellita Batungbacal can no longer appeal from the decision may be resolved after the case is considered ready for study and report.
WHEREFORE, the motion to dismiss is hereby DENIED, and appellee is required to file his appellee’s brief within forty-five (45) days from receipt hereof.
SO ORDERED.
On January 22, 1999,
petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration[17] of the aforesaid resolution but said motion was
denied by the Court of Appeals in a resolution[18] dated April 19,
1999, the pertinent portion of which reads as follows:
The resolution promulgated on January 13, 1999 required appellee to file his appellee’s brief within forty-five (45) days from receipt of that resolution, or up to March 4, 1999. Up to this date no appellee’s brief has been submitted.
WHEREFORE, the appeal by appellants is deemed submitted for decision without the benefit of appellee’s brief, and the records of this case is hereby transmitted to the Raffle Committee, for re-raffle, for study and report.
SO ORDERED.
Hence, this Petition for Certiorari
and Prohibition[19] wherein petitioner contends that respondent Court of
Appeals acted:
(1) WITHOUT JURISDICTION IN ENTERTAINING THE APPEAL OF PRIVATE RESPONDENT ESTELITA BATUNGBACAL;
(2) WITH GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION AND IN DISREGARD OF THE EXPRESS MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS OF THE RULES AS WELL AS AGAINST SETTLED JURISPRUDENCE WHEN IT DENIED THE PETITIONER’S MOTION TO DISMISS THE APPEAL OF THE PRIVATE RESPONDENT SPOUSES;
(3) WITH GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION AND IN GRAVE VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS OF LAW IN ADMITTING THE AMENDED APPELLANT’S BRIEF FILED BY PRIVATE RESPONDENTS AND IN REQUIRING THE PETITIONER AS APPELLEE TO FILE HIS APPELLEE’S BRIEF;
(4) WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF
LAW WHEN IT RESOLVED TO HAVE THE APPEAL OF THE APPELLANT PRIVATE RESPONDENTS
DEEMED SUBMITTED FOR DECISION WITHOUT BENEFIT OF APPELLEE’S BRIEF….[20]
Simply put, the following
are the issues presented before this Court for resolution: (1) whether or not the appellate court erred
in taking cognizance of the appeal; and (2) whether or not the appellate court
erred or committed grave abuse of discretion when it considered the appeal as
submitted for decision without petitioner’s brief.
On the first issue,
petitioner contends that the decisions of the trial court in Civil Case No.
6480 promulgated on May 14, 1996 and June 2, 1997 had become final and
executory as to private respondent Estelita Batungbacal. This is because Estelita never appealed the
partial judgment promulgated on May 14, 1996.
In fact, there has been a partial execution of said judgment with notice
to and without objection from private respondent spouses. As regards the decision dated June 2, 1997,
petitioner contends that the same had become final for failure to file the
notice of appeal within 15 days, counted from the time counsel of record for
private respondent spouses received a copy on June 6, 1997 and not from the
time Estelita received a copy on June 10, 1997. Petitioner points to Section 2 of Rule 13 of the Rules of Court
and argues that since the trial court never ordered that service of the
judgment be made upon Estelita, she was not entitled to service of the
judgment. The fact that she received a
copy of the judgment separately from her counsel cannot prejudice the legal
consequences arising out of prior receipt of copy of the decision by her
counsel. It was thus clear error for
the Court of Appeals to accept Estelita’s argument that the reglementary period
commenced not from receipt of a copy of the decision by counsel of record but from
the time she received a copy of the decision.
The appeal having been filed out of time, the Court of Appeals did not
have jurisdiction to entertain the appeal of Estelita.
Petitioner also assails
the appellants’ brief for certain formal defects. As pointed out in his motion to dismiss filed before the public
respondent, there are no page references to the record in the statements of the
case and of the facts in the appellants’ brief submitted by private
respondents. Petitioner asserts that
while there are many pleadings and orders mentioned in said statements, only
the decision dated June 2, 1997 is cited, and the citation is limited only to
the particular page or pages in said decision where the citation or quotation
is taken, without any reference to the pages in the record where the decision
can be found. Neither is there
reference to the pages in the record where the particular cited or quoted
portions of the decision can be found.
Petitioner likewise
alleges that the authorities relied upon in the appellants’ brief of private
respondents are also not cited by the page on which the citation is found, as
required in Sec. 13 (f) of Rule 44 of the Rules of Court. Page references to the record are also
required in Section 13, paragraphs (c), (d) and (f) of Rule 44 and absence
thereof is a ground for dismissal of the appeal, pursuant to Sec. 1 (f) of Rule
50 of the Rules of Court. Petitioner
also harps on the failure of private respondents to furnish petitioner with two
copies of the original appellants’ brief, to submit proof of service of two
copies of the brief on the appellee, and to furnish the petitioner with two
copies of the amended appellants’ brief as required by the Rules of Court. Additionally, petitioner asserts that the
failure of private respondents to append copies of the appealed decisions to
their appellants’ brief constitutes a violation of the Internal Rules of the
Court of Appeals and is likewise a ground for dismissal under Section 1 of Rule
50 of the Rules of Court.
Lastly, petitioner
contends that the virtual admission into the record by the respondent court of
the amended appellants’ brief of the private respondents under the resolution
dated January 13, 1999 and its corresponding action to require the petitioner
to respond thereto, constitute grave abuse of discretion and blatant disregard
of due process of law because the amended brief was filed without leave of
court.
Private respondents, for
their part, argue that the resolutions being assailed by petitioner are
interlocutory in character because the Court of Appeals still has to decide the
appeal on the merits; hence, certiorari does not lie in his favor. Private respondents allege that petitioner
has another adequate and speedy remedy, i.e., to file his brief raising
all issues before the Court of Appeals.
Once the appeal is resolved on the merits, all proper issues may be
elevated to the Supreme Court. An order
denying a motion to dismiss being merely interlocutory, it cannot be the basis
of a petition for certiorari. The
proper remedy is to appeal in due course after the case is decided on the
merits.
We find the petition
devoid of merit.
On the first issue, we
find that the Court of Appeals did not act without jurisdiction in entertaining
the appeal filed by private respondent Estelita Batungbacal. Contrary to petitioner’s apparent position,
the judgments rendered by the trial court in this case are not several
judgments under the Rules of Court so that there would be multiple periods of
finality.
A several judgment is
proper only when the liability of each party is clearly separable and distinct
from that of his co-parties, such that the claims against each of them could
have been the subject of separate suits, and judgment for or against one of
them will not necessarily affect the other.[21] Where a common cause of action exists against the
defendants, as in actions against solidary debtors, a several judgment is not
proper. In this case, private
respondents are sued together under a common cause of action and are sought to
be held liable as solidary debtors for a loan contracted by Estelita. This is the clear import of the allegation
in the complaint that the proceeds of the loan benefited the conjugal
partnership.
Thus, between the two
judgments rendered by the trial court, there could only be one judgment that
finally disposes of the case on the merits.
Receipt of notice of this final judgment marks the point when the
reglementary period is to begin running.
In this case, that judgment is the decision[22] rendered by the trial court on June 2, 1997 and it
is only from the date of notice of this decision that the reglementary period
began to run. The partial judgment
dated May 14, 1996 was rendered only with respect to one issue in the case and
is not the final and appealable order or judgment that finally disposes of the
case on the merits.[23] It must, therefore, only be appealed together with
the decision dated June 2, 1997.
A final order is that
which gives an end to the litigation.[24] When the order or judgment does not dispose of the
case completely but leaves something to be done upon the merits, it is merely
interlocutory.[25] Quite obviously, the partial judgment ordering
Estelita to pay petitioner is an interlocutory order because it leaves other
things for the trial court to do and does not decide with finality the rights
and obligations of the parties.
Specifically, at the time the partial judgment was rendered, there
remained other issues including whether the husband Avelino had any liability
under Article 121 of the Family Code.
However, as the partial judgment disposed of one of the issues involved
in the case, it is to be taken in conjunction with the decision dated June 2,
1997. Together, these two issuances
form one integrated decision.
The question now is when
the period to appeal should actually commence, from June 6, 1997, as petitioner
contends; or from June 10, 1997, as private respondent Estelita Batungbacal
claims? We hold that the period began
to run on June 6, 1997 when counsel for private respondents received a copy of
the decision dated June 2, 1997. When a
party is represented by counsel of record, service of orders and notices must
be made upon said attorney and notice to the client and to any other lawyer,
not the counsel of record, is not notice in law.[26] The exception to this rule is when service upon the
party himself has been ordered by the court.[27] In this case, it does not appear that there was any
substitution of counsel or that service upon private respondent Estelita
Batungbacal had been specifically ordered by the trial court; hence, the
counsel of record for the private respondents is presumed to be their counsel
on appeal and the only one authorized to receive court processes. Notice of the judgment upon such counsel,
therefore, was notice to the clients for all legal intents and purposes.
Private respondents’
appeal had been taken within the reglementary period since Avelino Batungbacal
had filed a notice of appeal on June 19, 1997 or 13 days from their counsel’s
receipt of the decision on June 6, 1997.
Respondent spouses having been jointly sued under a common cause of
action, an appeal made by the husband inures to the benefit of the wife. The notice of appeal filed by Estelita was a
superfluity, the appeal having been perfected earlier by her husband.
We come now to petitioner’s
contention that the appellants’ brief suffers from fatal defects.
Worth stressing, the
grounds for dismissal of an appeal under Section 1 of Rule 50[28] of the Rules of Court are discretionary upon the
Court of Appeals. This can be seen from
the very wording of the Rules which uses the word ‘may’ instead of ‘shall.’
This Court has held in Philippine National Bank vs. Philippine Milling Co.,
Inc.[29] that Rule 50, Section 1 which provides specific
grounds for dismissal of appeal manifestly “confers a power and does not impose
a duty.” “What is more, it is directory, not mandatory.”[30] With the exception of Sec. 1(b), the grounds for the
dismissal of an appeal are directory and not mandatory, and it is not the
ministerial duty of the court to dismiss the appeal.[31] The discretion,
however, must be a sound one to be exercised in accordance with the tenets of
justice and fair play having in mind the circumstances obtaining in each case.[32]
The Court of Appeals
rightly exercised its discretion when, in denying petitioner’s motion to
dismiss, it ruled that the citations contained in the appellants’ brief were in
substantial compliance with the rules.
Where the citations found in the appellants’ brief could sufficiently
enable the appellate court to locate expeditiously the portions of the record
referred to, there is substantial compliance with the requirements of Section
13(c) and (d), Rule 46 of the Rules of Court.
Such determination was properly within the appellate court’s discretion. Nothing in the records indicate that it was
exercised capriciously, whimsically, or with a view of permitting injury upon a
party litigant. For the same reasons,
we hold that the respondent Court of Appeals also did not err when it did not
dismiss the appeal based on the allegation that appellants’ brief failed to
comply with the internal rules of said court.
However, the Court of
Appeals erred in requiring petitioner to file the appellee’s brief in response
to the amended appellants’ brief. Note
that the amended brief was filed without the proper motion for leave to do so
and corresponding order from the respondent court. Even more significant, it was filed beyond the extensions of time
granted to appellants. The discretion
in accepting late briefs conferred upon respondent court which this Court
applied in the cases of Maqui vs. CA[33] and Vda. de Haberer vs. CA,[34] finds no application under the present circumstances
because, unlike in these two cases, here no valid reason was advanced for the
late filing of the amended brief. While
the amended brief[35] might contain no
substantial and prejudicial changes, it was error for the respondent court to
accept the amended brief as filed and then require petitioner to file
appellee’s brief because admittedly the amended brief was filed beyond August
31, 1998, the last period of extension granted to private respondents.
On the second issue, we
hold that the Court of Appeals did not commit grave abuse of discretion in
considering the appeal submitted for decision.
The proper remedy in case of denial of the motion to dismiss is to file
the appellee’s brief and proceed with the appeal. Instead, petitioner opted to file a motion for reconsideration
which, unfortunately, was pro forma.
All the grounds raised therein have been discussed in the first resolution
of the respondent Court of Appeals.
There is no new ground raised that might warrant reversal of the
resolution. A cursory perusal of the
motion would readily show that it was a near verbatim repetition of the
grounds stated in the motion to dismiss; hence, the filing of the motion for
reconsideration did not suspend the period for filing the appellee’s
brief. Petitioner was therefore
properly deemed to have waived his right to file appellee’s brief.
WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. The resolutions dated January 13, 1999
and April 19, 1999 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 57989 are
AFFIRMED, and the Court of Appeals is ordered to proceed with the appeal and
decide the case with dispatch. No pronouncement
as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
Bellosillo, (Chairman),
Mendoza, De Leon, Jr., and Corona,
JJ., concur.
[1] CA Rollo, pp.
116-117.
[2] Id. at
135-136.
[3] Rollo, pp.
31-38.
[4] Id. at 39.
[5] Id. at 48-49.
[6] Id. at 54-64.
[7] Id. at 65.
[8] Id. at 66.
[9] Id. at 68.
[10] Id. at 67.
[11] Supra, note 1
at 57-63.
[12] Id. at 57-59,
62.
[13] Id. at 63.
[14] Id. at 92-93.
[15] Id. at 81-91.
[16] Id. at
116-117.
[17] Id. at
121-125.
[18] Id. at
135-136.
[19] Supra, note 3
at 3-28.
[20] Id. at 5.
[21] F. Regalado, I
REMEDIAL LAW COMPENDIUM 375 (6th ed.
1997).
[22] Supra, note
6.
[23] See Section
1, Rule 41 of the Rules of Court.
[24] Investments, Inc.
vs. CA, G.R. No. L-60036, 147 SCRA 334, 340 (1987), citing PLDT
Employees' Union vs. PLDT Co. Free Tel. Workers' Union,
G.R. No. L-8138, 97 Phil. 424, 426 (1955).
[25] PLDT Employees'
Union vs. PLDT Co. Free Tel. Workers' Union, id. at
426-427.
[26] Bernardo vs. CA
(Special Sixth Division), G.R. No. 106153, 275 SCRA 413, 423-424 (1997),
citing Chainani vs. Tancinco, G.R. No. L-4782, 90 Phil. 862, 864 (1952).
[27] Rule 13, Section 2
of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.
[28] RULE 50 - DISMISSAL OF APPEAL.
Section 1. Grounds for dismissal of appeal. — An appeal may be dismissed by the Court of Appeals, on its own motion or on that of the appellee, on the following grounds:
(a) Failure of the record on appeal to show on its face that the appeal was taken within the period fixed by these Rules;
(b) Failure to file the notice of appeal or the record on appeal within the period prescribed by these Rules;
(c) Failure of the appellant to pay the docket and other lawful fees as provided in section 5 of Rule 40 and section 4 of Rule 41;
(d) Unauthorized alterations, omissions or additions in the approved record on appeal as provided in section 4 of Rule 44;
(e) Failure of the appellant to serve and file the required number of copies of his brief or memorandum within the time provided by these Rules;
(f) Absence of specific assignment of errors in the appellant’s brief, or of page references to the record as required in section 13, paragraphs (a), (c), (d) and (f) of Rule 44;
(g) Failure of the appellant to take the necessary steps for the correction or completion of the record within the time limited by the court in its order;
(h) Failure of the appellant to appear at the preliminary conference under Rule 48 or to comply with orders, circulars, or directives of the court without justifiable cause; and
(i) The fact that the order
or judgment appealed from is not appealable.
(1a)
[29] G.R. No. L-27005, 26
SCRA 712, 715 (1969).
[30] Ibid.
[31] See Maqui
vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. L-41609, 69 SCRA 368, 374 (1976).
[32] Vda. De Haberer
vs. CA, G.R. Nos. L-42699 to L-42709, 104 SCRA 534, 544 (1981).
[33] Supra, note
31.
[34] Supra, note
32.
[35] Supra, note 1
at 81-91.