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Gotesco V. Chatto
Gotesco V. Chatto
Gotesco V. Chatto
GLORIA E. CHATTO and LINA DELZA CHATTO
G.R. No. L-87584 June 16, 1992
The next day they transferred to UST hospital.
And, due to the continuing pain, respondent Gloria went to the US for further treatment.
ISSUE: Whether Petitioner is liable
RULING: YES
Petitioner presented Mr. Ong as its witness. Mr. Ong admitted that he could not give any reason why th
e ceiling collapsed. The realreason why Mr. Ong could not explain the cause or reason is that he did not
actually conduct the investigation. It was not shownthat any causes denominated as force majeure obtai
ned immediately before or at the time of the collapse of the ceiling.Such defects could have easily been
discovered if only petitioner exercised due diligence and care in keeping and maintaining thepremises. B
ut as disclosed by Mr. Ong, there was no adequate inspection nor the nature and extent of the same.
It is settled that:The owner or proprietor of a place of public amusement impliedly warrants that the pre
mises, appliances andamusement devices are safe for the purpose for which they are designed, the doct
rine being subject to no otherexception or qualification than that he does not contract against unknown
defects not discoverable by ordinary means.
This implied warranty has given rise to the rule that:Where a patron of a theater or other place of public
amusement is injured, and the thing that caused the injury iswholly and exclusively under the control an
d management of the defendant, and the accident is such as in theordinary course of events would not
have happened if proper care had been exercised, its occurrence raises apresumption or permits of an i
nference of negligence on the part of the defendant.
That presumption or inference was not overcome by the petitioner.
Besides, even assuming for the sake of argument that, as petitioner vigorously insists, the cause of the c
ollapse was due toforcemajeure, petitioner would still be liable because it was guilty of negligence, whic
h the trial court denominated as gross. As gleaned
from Bouvier's definition of and Cockburn's elucidation on force majeure
for one to be exempt from any liability because of it, he must have exercised care,
i.e. he should not have been guilty of negligence