Bataclan v. Medina

Shortly after midnight on September 13, 1952, a bus of Medina Transportation, owned and operated by Mariano Medina, left Amadeo, Cavite for Pasay City. Juan Bataclan was among the passengers. At about 2:00 a.m. in Imus, Cavite, a front tire burst. The bus zig-zagged about 150 meters, fell into a canal, and turned turtle. Bataclan and three other passengers were trapped inside, and calls for help were made to nearby houses. After about half an hour, some ten men arrived, one carrying a lighted bamboo torch fueled with petroleum. Gasoline had leaked from the overturned bus over the vehicle and the ground around it, and as the men approached, a fierce fire broke out that burned the bus and the four trapped passengers. Bataclan's widow, for herself and their five minor children, sued Medina for damages. The Court of First Instance of Cavite held that the proximate cause of death was the fire, not the overturning, and awarded P1,000 for Bataclan's injuries, P600 as attorney's fees, and P100 for lost merchandise. Both parties appealed, and the Court of Appeals certified the case to the Supreme Court because of the amount claimed.

1. 1Whether the proximate cause of Bataclan's death was the overturning of the bus or the fire started by the rescuers' torch.
2. 2Whether the carrier is liable for Bataclan's death and not merely for his physical injuries.

The overturning of the bus was the proximate cause, and the carrier is liable for Bataclan's death. The case involves breach of a contract of carriage. Common carriers must observe extraordinary diligence and are presumed negligent when a passenger dies (Arts. 1733, 1755, 1756, 1759 and 1763, Civil Code). The driver was negligent: the bus was speeding, as shown by the 150 meters it travelled after the blow-out. The Court adopted this definition of proximate cause: "that cause, which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred." If a fire had been started by something unexpected and extraordinary, such as lightning or bandits, the fire might be the proximate cause. Here, however, gasoline leaking from a bus lying on its back was not unexpected. The rescuers came in answer to calls for help and, in the dark and without flashlights, naturally brought a torch. Their arrival with a torch was "a natural sequence of the overturning of the bus." The fire was also partly due to the carrier's own negligence: the driver and conductor should have known gasoline had leaked but did not warn the rescuers to keep the torch away. Damages were raised from P1,000 to P6,000, covering compensatory, moral and other damages, and attorney's fees from P600 to P800. The P100 for merchandise was left undisturbed. Citing evidence that Medina knew the tires were old and that the driver's criminal case had been provisionally dismissed, the Court ordered copies sent to the Department of Justice and the Provincial Fiscal to pursue the driver's prosecution. The decision was affirmed as modified.