Published — March 4, 2021
The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of your own lawyer to address your legal concerns, if any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
Read also: Are School Bus Operators Common Carriers?
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Common carriers are persons, corporations, firms or associations engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or both for compensation, offering their services to the public.
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Common carriers are liable for the death of or injuries to passengers through the negligence or willful acts of the former’s employees.
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it is enough that the assault happens within the course of the employee’s duty for the common carrier to be held liable.
Common carriers are persons, corporations, firms or associations engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or both, by land, water, or air, for compensation, offering their services to the public.
In the Philippines, an entity is considered a common carrier when all the following requisites are present:
- must be a person, corporation, firm or association;
- engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or both;
- the carriage or transport must either be by land, water or air;
- the service is for a fee; and
- the service is offered to the public
If a mishap happened due to the negligence of common carrier’s employees, will the common carrier be held liable?
Yes.
The law says:
Common carriers are liable for the death of or injuries to passengers through the negligence or willful acts of the former’s employees, although such employees may have acted beyond the scope of their authority or in violation of the orders of the common carriers.
In the case of Antonia Maranan vs. Pascual Perez (G.R. No. L-22272, June 26, 1967) the victim was a passenger in a taxicab when he was stabbed and killed by the driver, the common carrier’s employee. The common carrier claims that it has no absolute liability for the assaults of its employees upon the passenger.
However, the Court ruled that it is enough that the assault happens within the course of the employee’s duty. It is no defense for the carrier that the act was done in excess of authority or in disobedience of the carrier’s orders. The carrier’s liability here is absolute in the sense that it practically secures the passengers from assaults committed by its own employees.
Accordingly, it is the carrier’s strict obligation to select its drivers and similar employees with due regard not only to their technical competence and physical ability, but also, no less important, to their total personality, including their patterns of behavior, moral fibers, and social attitude.
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
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