Judge Harold Cesar C.

Huliganga
Legal Writing
UNITED AIRLINES vs. Court of Appeals
357 SCRA 99
Facts:
On Mar. 1, 1989, PR Fontanilla purchased tickets from petitioner United Airlines in Manila.
The cause of non-boarding of the Fontanillas on United Airlines makes up the bone of contention
of this controversy.
Aniceto Fontanilla & his son claim that upon arrival at Los Angeles Airport they proceeded at
United Airlines counter where they were attended by an employee, Linda; when the flight was
called, they proceeded to the plane but the stewardess did not allow them to board because they
had no assigned seat numbers; they were directed to go back to the check-in-counter.
Linda told them in an arrogant manner, Who do you think you are? You lousy Flips are good for
nothing beggars. You always ask for American aid. After which she remarked Dont worry
about your baggage. Anyway there is nothing in there. What are you doing here anyway? I will
report you to immigration. You Filipinos should go home. such rude statement was made infront
of other people causing the Fontanillas to suffer shame, humiliation & embarrassment.
However, according to United Airlines, Fontanillas did not initially go to check-in-counter to get
their seat assignment that is why they were not allowed to board. Linda denied the derogatory &
resisted words attributed to her by the Fontanillas.
The incident prompted the Fontanillas to file for damages.
Issue:
WON there was a breach of contract in bad faith on the part of the petitioner in not allowing the
Fontanillas to board United Airlines? NO
WON Fontanilla is entitled to damages? NO
Held:
Aniceto Fontanillas assertion that upon arrival at the airport at 9:45 a.m., he immediately
proceeded to the check-in counter, and that Linda Allen punched in something into the computer
is specious and not supported by the evidence on record. In support of their allegations, private
respondents submitted a copy of the boarding pass. Explicitly printed on the boarding pass are
the words Check-In Required. Curiously, the said pass did not indicate any seat number. If
indeed the Fontanillas checked in at the designated time as they claimed, why then were they not
assigned seat numbers? Absent any showing that Linda was so motivated, we do not buy into
private respondents claim that Linda intentionally deceived him, and made him the laughing
stock among the passengers.
Plaintiffs fail to realize that their failure to check in, as expressly required in their boarding
passes, is the very reason why they were not given their respective seat numbers, which resulted
in their being denied boarding.
Existing jurisprudence explicitly states that overbooking amounts to bad faith, entitling
passengers concerned to an award of moral damages. What this Court considers as bad faith is
the willful and deliberate overbooking on the part of the airline carrier. The above-mentioned law

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clearly states that when the overbooking does not exceed ten percent (10%), it is not considered
as deliberate and therefore does not amount to bad faith. While there may have been overbooking
in this case, private respondents were not able to prove that the overbooking on United Airlines
Flight 1108 exceeded ten percent.
For the plaintiff to be entitled to an award of moral damages arising from a breach of contract of
carriage, the carrier must have acted with fraud or bad faith.
The private respondents were not able to prove that they were subjected to coarse and harsh
treatment by the ground crew of united Airlines. Neither were they able to show that there was
bad faith on part of the carrier airline. Hence, the award of moral and exemplary damages by the
Court of Appeals is improper. Corollarily, the award of attorneys fees is, likewise, denied for
lack of any legal and factual basis.

Eugenio Cuaresma vs Marcelo Daquis et al

On September 11, 2012
63 SCRA 257 Legal Ethics A lawyer owes candor to the court
An order to demolish the property where Cuaresma was staying was issued by a trial judge
pursuant to a civil case filed by Daquis. Cuaresmas lawyer, Atty. Macario Directo, filed a
petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court where he alleged that they had no knowledge of
the said civil case hence the order of demolition is unjust. The Supreme Court however later
found out that Cuaresma and his lawyer in fact knew of the existence of said civil case. The
Supreme Court then directed Directo to show cause why he should not be disciplined.
In his explanation, Directo stated that what he meant was that he and his client belatedly learned
of the civil case; that had there been a mistake committed, it had been an honest one, and would
say in all sincerity that there was no deliberate attempt and intent on his part of misleading this
Honorable Court, honestly and totally unaware of any false allegation in the petition.
ISSUE: Whether or not Directo should be subject to disciplinary actions.

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HELD: No. But he was reprimanded by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave Directo
the benefit of the doubt although it did say that Directos reasoning could very well be just an
afterthought. The Supreme Court also stated that Directo is presumed to be in good faith
especially so that the misstatements in his petition could be attributed either to his carelessness or
his lack of English proficiency. The Supreme Court admonished Directo to prepare pleadings
carefully in the future so that the least doubt as to his intellectual honesty cannot be entertained.
Every member of the bar should realize that candor in the dealings with the Court is of the very
essence of honorable membership in the profession.

WHY SHOULD THE STATEMENT OF FACTS BE SUPPORTED BY PAGE

REFERENCES?
IF A STATEMENT OF FACT IS UNACCOMPANIED BY A PAGE REFERENCE TO
THE RECORD, IT MAY BE PRESUMED TO BE WITHOUT SUPPORT IN THE
RECORD AND MAY BE STRICKEN OR DISREGARDED ALTOGETHER.[34]
Further, the Court of Appeals found that the Statement of Facts was not supported by page
references to the record. De Liano v. Court of Appeals held:
x x x The facts constitute the backbone of a legal argument; they are determinative of the law
and jurisprudence applicable to the case, and consequently, will govern the appropriate
relief. Appellants should remember that the Court of Appeals is empowered to review both
questions of law and of facts. Otherwise, where only a pure question of law is involved, appeal
would pertain to this Court. An appellant, therefore, should take care to state the facts accurately
though it is permissible to present them in a manner favorable to one party. x x x Facts which
are admitted require no further proof, whereas facts in dispute must be backed by
evidence. Relative thereto, the rule specifically requires that ones statement of facts should be
supported by page references to the record. Indeed, disobedience therewith has been punished
by dismissal of the appeal. Page references to the record are not an empty requirement. If a
statement of fact is unaccompanied by a page reference to the record, it may be presumed
to be without support in the record and may be stricken or disregarded altogether.[34]
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF A SUBJECT INDEX?

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In this case, the Appellants Brief of petitioners did not have a subject index. The importance of
a subject index should not be underestimated. De Liano v. Court of Appeals[30] declared that the
subject index functions like a table of contents, facilitating the review of appeals by providing
ready reference. It held that:
[t]he first requirement of an appellants brief is a subject index. The index is intended to
facilitate the review of appeals by providing ready reference, functioning much like a table of
contents. Unlike in other jurisdictions, there is no limit on the length of appeal briefs or appeal
memoranda filed before appellate courts. The danger of this is the very real possibility that the
reviewing tribunal will be swamped with voluminous documents. This occurs even though the
rules consistently urge the parties to be brief or concise in the drafting of pleadings, briefs,
and other papers to be filed in court. The subject index makes readily available at ones
fingertips the subject of the contents of the brief so that the need to thumb through the brief page
after page to locate a partys arguments, or a particular citation, or whatever else needs to be
found and considered, is obviated.

De Liano vs CA
Facts: the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 227 issued a Decision in favour of the plaintiff
In brief, the case involved the cancellation of two (2) real estate mortgages in favor of petitioner
San Miguel Corporation (SMC) executed by private respondent Benjamin A. Tango over his
house and lot in Quezon City. The mortgages were third party or accommodation mortgages on
behalf of the spouses Bernardino and Carmelita Ibarra who were dealers of SMC products in
Aparri, Cagayan. Other defendants in the case were Francisco A.G. De Liano and Alberto O.
Villa-Abrille, Jr., who are senior executives of petitioner SMC.
SMC, De Liano and Abrille appealed the aforesaid decision to the Court of Appeals. In due time,
their counsel, Atty. Edgar B. Afable, filed an Appellants Brief which failed to comply with
Section 13, Rule 44 of the Rules of Court. The appellee (herein private respondent) was quick to
notice these deficiencies, and accordingly filed a Motion to Dismiss Appeal dated March 8,
1999. Required to comment, the appellants averred that their brief had substantially complied
with the contents as set forth in the rules. They proffered the excuse that the omissions were
only the result of oversight or inadvertence and as such could be considered harmless errors.
They prayed for liberality in the application of technical rules, adding that they have a
meritorious defense.
As pointed out by plaintiff-appellee, the Brief does not contain a Subject Index nor a Table of
Cases and Authorities, with page references. Moreover, the Statement of the Case, Statement of
Facts, and Arguments in the Brief has no page reference to the record. These procedural lapses
justify the dismissal of the appeal, pursuant to Section 1 (f), Rule 50 of the 1997 Rules of Civil
Procedure, as amended, which reads:
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:
xxx

xxx

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xxx

(f) Absence of specific assignment of errors in the appellants brief, or of page references to the
record as required in section 13, paragraphs (a), (c), (d) and (f) of Rule 44;
Issue: WoN the court of appeals erred in dismissing the petitioners appeal on the basis of pure
technicalities
Held: Contents of appellants brief.The appellants brief shall contain, in the order herein
indicated, the following:
(a)
A subject index of the matter in the brief with a digest of the arguments and page
references, and a table of cases alphabetically arranged, textbooks and statutes cited with
references to the pages where they are cited;
(b)
An assignment of errors intended to be urged, which errors shall be separately, distinctly
and concisely stated without repetition and numbered consecutively;
(c)
Under the heading Statement of the Case, a clear and concise statement of the nature of
the action, a summary of the proceedings, the appealed rulings and orders of the court, the nature
of the judgment and any other matters necessary to an understanding of the nature of the
controversy, with page references to the record;
(d)
Under the heading Statement of Facts, a clear and concise statement in a narrative form
of the facts admitted by both parties and of those in controversy, together with the substance of
the proof relating thereto in sufficient detail to make it clearly intelligible, with page references
to the record;
(e)
A clear and concise statement of the issues of fact or law to be submitted to the court for
its judgment;
(f)
Under the heading Argument, the appellants arguments on each assignment of error
with page references to the record. The authorities relied upon shall be cited by the page of the
report at which the case begins and the page of the report on which the citation is found;
(g)
Under the heading Relief, a specification of the order or judgment which the appellant
seeks; and
(h)
In cases not brought up by record on appeal, the appellants brief shall contain, as an
appendix, a copy of the judgment or final order appealed from.
We remind members of the bar that their first duty is to comply with the rules, not to seek
exceptions. As was expressed more recently in Del Rosario v. Court of Appeals,i[21] which was
rightfully quoted by the appellate court, we ruled that:
Petitioners plea for liberality in applying these rules in preparing Appellants Brief does not
deserve any sympathy. Long ingrained in our jurisprudence is the rule that the right to appeal is
a statutory right and a party who seeks to avail of the right must faithfully comply with the rules.
The Rules of Court prescribe two (2) modes of appeal from decisions of the Regional Trial
Courts to the Court of Appeals. When the trial court decides a case in the exercise of its original
jurisdiction, the mode of review is by an ordinary appeal in accordance with Section 2(a) of Rule
41.ii[22] In contrast, where the assailed decision was rendered by the trial court in the exercise of
its appellate jurisdiction, the mode of appeal is via a petition for review pursuant to Rule 42.iii
[23] We are more concerned here about the first mode since the case at bar involves a decision
rendered by the Regional Trial Court exercising its original jurisdiction.

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Cases elevated to the Court of Appeals are treated differently depending upon their classification
into one of three (3) categories: appealed civil cases, appealed criminal cases, and special cases.iv
[24] Be it noted that all cases are under the supervision and control of the members of the Court
of Appeals in all stages, from the time of filing until the remand of the cases to the courts or
agencies of origin.v[25] Ordinary appealed civil cases undergo two (2) stages. The first stage
consists of completion of the records. The second stage is for study and report, which follows
when an appealed case is deemed submitted for decision, thus:
When case deemed submitted for judgment.A case shall be deemed submitted for judgment:
A. In ordinary appeals.1) Where no hearing on the merits of the main case is held, upon the filing of the last pleading,
brief, or memorandum required by the Rules or by the court itself, or the expiration of the period
for its filing;
2)
Where such a hearing is held, upon its termination or upon the filing of the last pleading
or memorandum as may be required or permitted to be filed by the court, or the expiration of the
period for its filing.
The aforesaid distinction has a bearing on the case at bar. It becomes apparent that the merits of
the appeal can only be looked into during the second stage. The Justice in-charge of completion
exceeds his province should he examine the merits of the case since his function is to oversee
completion only. The prerogative of determining the merits of an appeal pertains properly to the
Justice to whom the case is raffled for study and report. The case at bar did not reach the second
stage; it was dismissed during completion stage pursuant to Section 1(f) of Rule 50.
Consequently, petitioners contention that the appellate court should have considered the
substance of the appeal prior to dismissing it due to technicalities does not gain our favor.
Generally, the negligence of counsel binds his client. Actually, Atty. Afable is also an employee
of petitioner San Miguel Corporation.vi[28] Yet even this detail will not operate in petitioners
favor. A corporation, it should be recalled, is an artificial being whose juridical personality is
only a fiction created by law. It can only exercise its powers and transact its business through the
instrumentalities of its board of directors, and through its officers and agents, when authorized by
resolution or its by-laws.

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