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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 a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is 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.
AT A GLANCE:
A cause of action may give rise to several reliefs, but only one action can be filed. A single cause of action or entire claim or demand cannot be split up or divided into two or more different actions. (Rivera Golf Club, Inc.v. CCA Holdings, B.V., G.R. No. 173783, June 17, 2015)
The rule on prohibiting the splitting of a single cause of action is clear.
Section 4 of Rule 2 of the Revised Rules on Civil Procedure provides that if two or more suits are instituted on the basis of the same causes of action, the filing of one or a judgment upon the merits in any one is available as a ground for the dismissal of the others.
The rule against the splitting up of a cause of action is an old one. In fact, as the Supreme Court held in City of Bacolod v. San Miguel Brewery (G.R. No 25134, October 30, 1969), the rule preceded the Rules of Court or any statutory provision citing th case of Bachrach Motor Co., Inc. vs. Icarangal et al., where the Court explained its meaning, origin and purpose, thus:
“But, even if we have no such section 708 of our Code of Civil Procedure, or section 59 of the Insolvency Law, we have still the rule against splitting a single cause of action. This rule, though not contained in any statutory provision, has been applied by this court in all appropriate cases. Thus, in Santos vs. Moir (36 Phil. 350, 359), we said: “It is well recognized that a party cannot split a single cause of action into parts and sue on each part separately. A complaint for the recovery of personal property with damages for detention states a single cause of action which cannot be divided into an action for possession and one for damages; and if suit is brought for possession only a subsequent action cannot be maintained to recover the damages resulting from the unlawful detention.” In Rubio de Larena vs. Villanueva (53 Phil. 923, 927), we reiterated the rule by stating that “… a party will not be permitted to split up a single cause of action and make it the basis for several suits” and that when a lease provides for the payment of the rent in separate installments, each installment constitutes an independent cause of action, but when, at the time the complaint is filed, there are several installments due, all of them constitute a single cause of action and should be included in a single complaint, and if some of them are not so included, they are barred. The same doctrine is stated in Lavarro vs. Labitoria(54 Phil. 788), wherein we said that “a party will not be permitted to split up a single cause of action and make it a basis for several suits” and that a claim for partition of real property as well as for improvements constitutes a single cause of action, and a complaint for partition alone bars a subsequent complaint for the improvements. And in Blossom & Co. vs. Manila Gas Corporation (55 Phil. 226-240), we held that “as a general rule a contract to do several things at several times is divisible in its nature, so as to authorize successive actions; and a judgment recovered for a single breach of a continuing contract or covenant is no bar to suit for a subsequent breach thereof. But where the covenant or contract is entire, and the breach total, there can be only one action, and plaintiff must therein recover all his damages.
The rule against splitting a single cause of action is intended “to prevent repeated litigation between the same parties in regard to the same subject of controversy; to protect defendant from unnecessary vexation; and to avoid the costs and expenses incident to numerous suits.” (1 C.J. 1107) It comes from that old maxim nemo debet bis vexare pro una et eadem causa (no man shall be twice vexed for one and the same cause). (Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall 163, 168; 21 Law Ed. 872; also U.S. vs. Throckmorton, 98 U.S. 61; 25 Law Ed. 93). And it developed, certainly not as an original legal right of the defendant, but as an interposition of courts upon principles of public policy to prevent inconvenience and hardship incident to repeated and unnecessary litigations. (1 C. J. 1107).”
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Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding legal services, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/ 09175772207/ 09778050020.
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