PAL V. CA (1981)
[G.R. No. L-46558 : July 31, 1981.] PHILIPPINE AIR LINES, INC., Petitioner, vs. THE COURT OF APPEALS and JESUS V. SAMSON,
Respondents.
FACTS:
The complaint filed on July 1, 1954 by plaintiff Jesus V. Samson, private respondent herein, averred that on January 8, 1951, he flew as co-pilot on a regular flight from Manila to Legaspi with stops at Daet, Camarines Norte and Pili, Camarines Sur, with Captain Delfin Bustamante as commanding pilot of a C-47 plane belonging to defendant Philippine Air Lines, Inc., now the herein petitioner; that on attempting to land the plane at Daet airport, Captain Delfin Bustamante due to his very slow reaction and poor judgment overshot the airfield and as a result, notwithstanding the diligent efforts of the plaintiff co-pilot to avert an accident, the airplane crashlanded beyond the runway; that the jolt caused the head of the plaintiff to hit and break through the thick front windshield of the airplane causing him severe brain concussion, wounds and abrasions on the forehead with intense pain and suffering cranad(par. 6, complaint).:onad
The complaint further alleged that instead of giving plaintiff expert and proper medical treatment called for by the nature and severity of his injuries, defendant simply referred him to a company physician, a general medical practitioner, who limited the treatment to the exterior injuries without examining the severe brain concussion of plaintiff
defendant airline company instead of submitting the plaintiff to expert medical treatment, discharged the latter from its employ on December 21, 1953 on grounds of physical disability, thereby causing plaintiff not only to lose his job but to become physically unfit to continue as aviator due to defendant’s negligence in not giving him the proper medical attention cranad(pars. 10-11, complaint). Plaintiff prayed for damages
defendant PAL denied the substantial averments in the complaint, alleging among others, that the accident was due solely and exclusively to inevitable unforeseen circumstances whereby plaintiff sustained only superficial wounds and minor injuries which were promptly treated by defendant’s medical personnel cranad(par. 5, answer); that plaintiff did not sustain brain injury or cerebral concussion from the accident since he passed the annual physical and medical examination given thereafter on April 24, 1951; that the headaches and dizziness experienced by plaintiff were due to emotional disturbance over his inability to pass the required up-grading or promotional course given by defendant company
The pilot, Captain Delfin Bustamante, was a competent and proficient pilot, and although he was already afflicted with a tumor of the nasopharynx even before the accident of January 8, 1951, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, in passing upon the fitness of pilots, gave Capt. Bustamante a waiver of physical standards to enable him to retain his first class airman certificate
DECISION OF LOWER COURTS:
1. RTC: ordering the defendant to pay the plaintiff,
2. CA: Plaintiff-Appellee, who has been deprived of his job since 1954, is entitled to the legal rate of interest on the P198,000.00 unearned income from the filing of the complaint
ISSUE:
Is there a causal connection between the injuries suffered by private respondent during the accident on 8 January 1951 and the subsequent “periodic dizzy spells, headache and general debility” of which private respondent complained every now and then, on the one hand, and such “periodic dizzy spells, headache and general debility” allegedly caused by the accident and private respondent’s eventual discharge from employment, on the other?
RULING:
Yes. The dizzy spells, headache and general debility of private respondent Samson was an after-effect of the crash-landing
We also find the imputation of gross negligence by respondent court to PAL for having allowed Capt. Delfin Bustamante to fly on that fateful day of the accident on January 8, 1951
The pilot was sick. He admittedly had tumor of the nasopharynx cranad(nose). He is now in the Great Beyond. The spot is very near the brain and the eyes. Tumor on the spot will affect the sinus, the breathing, the eyes which are very near it. No one will certify the fitness to fly a plane of one suffering from the disease.
the evidence shows that the overshooting of the runway and crash-landing at the mangrove was caused by the pilot for which acts the
FACTS:
The complaint filed on July 1, 1954 by plaintiff Jesus V. Samson, private respondent herein, averred that on January 8, 1951, he flew as co-pilot on a regular flight from Manila to Legaspi with stops at Daet, Camarines Norte and Pili, Camarines Sur, with Captain Delfin Bustamante as commanding pilot of a C-47 plane belonging to defendant Philippine Air Lines, Inc., now the herein petitioner; that on attempting to land the plane at Daet airport, Captain Delfin Bustamante due to his very slow reaction and poor judgment overshot the airfield and as a result, notwithstanding the diligent efforts of the plaintiff co-pilot to avert an accident, the airplane crashlanded beyond the runway; that the jolt caused the head of the plaintiff to hit and break through the thick front windshield of the airplane causing him severe brain concussion, wounds and abrasions on the forehead with intense pain and suffering cranad(par. 6, complaint).:onad
The complaint further alleged that instead of giving plaintiff expert and proper medical treatment called for by the nature and severity of his injuries, defendant simply referred him to a company physician, a general medical practitioner, who limited the treatment to the exterior injuries without examining the severe brain concussion of plaintiff
defendant airline company instead of submitting the plaintiff to expert medical treatment, discharged the latter from its employ on December 21, 1953 on grounds of physical disability, thereby causing plaintiff not only to lose his job but to become physically unfit to continue as aviator due to defendant’s negligence in not giving him the proper medical attention cranad(pars. 10-11, complaint). Plaintiff prayed for damages
defendant PAL denied the substantial averments in the complaint, alleging among others, that the accident was due solely and exclusively to inevitable unforeseen circumstances whereby plaintiff sustained only superficial wounds and minor injuries which were promptly treated by defendant’s medical personnel cranad(par. 5, answer); that plaintiff did not sustain brain injury or cerebral concussion from the accident since he passed the annual physical and medical examination given thereafter on April 24, 1951; that the headaches and dizziness experienced by plaintiff were due to emotional disturbance over his inability to pass the required up-grading or promotional course given by defendant company
The pilot, Captain Delfin Bustamante, was a competent and proficient pilot, and although he was already afflicted with a tumor of the nasopharynx even before the accident of January 8, 1951, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, in passing upon the fitness of pilots, gave Capt. Bustamante a waiver of physical standards to enable him to retain his first class airman certificate
DECISION OF LOWER COURTS:
1. RTC: ordering the defendant to pay the plaintiff,
2. CA: Plaintiff-Appellee, who has been deprived of his job since 1954, is entitled to the legal rate of interest on the P198,000.00 unearned income from the filing of the complaint
ISSUE:
Is there a causal connection between the injuries suffered by private respondent during the accident on 8 January 1951 and the subsequent “periodic dizzy spells, headache and general debility” of which private respondent complained every now and then, on the one hand, and such “periodic dizzy spells, headache and general debility” allegedly caused by the accident and private respondent’s eventual discharge from employment, on the other?
RULING:
Yes. The dizzy spells, headache and general debility of private respondent Samson was an after-effect of the crash-landing
We also find the imputation of gross negligence by respondent court to PAL for having allowed Capt. Delfin Bustamante to fly on that fateful day of the accident on January 8, 1951
The pilot was sick. He admittedly had tumor of the nasopharynx cranad(nose). He is now in the Great Beyond. The spot is very near the brain and the eyes. Tumor on the spot will affect the sinus, the breathing, the eyes which are very near it. No one will certify the fitness to fly a plane of one suffering from the disease.
the evidence shows that the overshooting of the runway and crash-landing at the mangrove was caused by the pilot for which acts the
defendant must answer for damages caused thereby. And for this negligence of defendant’s employee, it is liable
The fact that private respondent suffered physical injuries in the head when the plane crash- landed due to the negligence of Capt.
Bustamante is undeniable. The negligence of the latter is clearly a quasi-delict and therefore Article 2219, cranad(2) New Civil Code is
applicable, justifying the recovery of moral damages.
The justification in the award of moral damages under Art. 19 of the New Civil Code on Human Relations which requires that every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith
The justification in the award of moral damages under Art. 19 of the New Civil Code on Human Relations which requires that every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith
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