Safety of passengers

 There is a presumption of negligence of common carriers when there is death or injury to

passengers.

Duration of liability in transport of passengers

 Common carriers are liable to their passengers up to the time they had reasonable
opportunity to leave the premises.
 Duration of liability extends to a reasonable time upon the time of arrival.

Requirement of extraordinary diligence to passengers

 Common carriers are bound to carry passengers safely as far as human foresight can
provide.
 Civil Code does not state the duration, even if the passenger reaches the destination,
common carrier is still duty-bound to exercise extraordinary diligence.
 Contract of carriage is not terminated upon arrival at destination.

Assuming that the contract of carriage is terminated, will the common carrier no longer be
liable? Is there no other cause of action when there is death or injury?

 The cause of action will be based on quasi-delict against the common carrier as an employer
if the cause is the negligence of the driver.
 Art. 2180 – Vicarious liability.

Standard for the opportunity in leave the premises of the carrier

 The criteria is reasonableness.

 Reasonable cause justifying the presence of passenger in the premises.
 Reasonable cause necessarily connected with the completion of the contract of carriage.

Extent of liability of common carriers

a) Waiting for carrier or boarding a carrier
 A public utility bus, once it stops, is in effect making a continuous offer to bus riders.
 It is the duty of common carriers of passengers to stop their conveyances for a reasonable
length of time in order to afford passengers an opportunity to board and enter, and they are
liable for injuries suffered by boarding passengers resulting from the sudden starting up or
jerking of their conveyances while they are doing so.
 By stepping and standing on the platform of the bus, a person is considered a passenger and
is entitled to all the rights and protection pertaining to a contract of carriage.
b) Arrival at destination
 The relation of carrier and passenger does not cease at the moment the passenger alights
from the carrier’s vehicle at a place selected by the carrier at the point of the destination,
but continues until the passenger has had a reasonable time or a reasonable opportunity to
leave the carrier’s premises.
 What is a reasonable time or a reasonable delay within this rule is to be determined from all
the circumstances.
 It is of common knowledge that, by the very nature of the business of a shipper, the
passengers of vessels are allotted a longer period of time to disembark from the ship than
the passengers of other common carriers considering the bulk of cargoes and the number of
passengers it can load.
 Consequently, such passenger will need at least an hour to disembark from the vessel and
claim his baggage.

c) Liability for the acts of employees

 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.
 Doctrine of respondeat superior: The carrier is liable only when the act of the employee
is within the scope of his authority and duty. It is not sufficient that the act be within the
course of employment only.

d) Liability for the acts of other passengers and strangers

 A common carrier is responsible for injuries suffered by a passenger on account of the
willful acts or negligence of other passenger or of strangers, if the common carrier’s
employees through the exercise of the diligence of a good father of a family could have
prevented or stopped the act or omission.
 Contributory negligence of the passenger does not bar recovery of damages for his death or
injuries, if the proximate cause thereof is the negligence of the common carrier, but the
amount of damages shall be equitably reduced.
 The law does not make the carrier an insurer of the absolute safety of its passengers.
Further, during the ride, the driver and the conductor observed nothing which would rouse
their suspicion that the men were armed or were about to carry out an unlawful activity.
With no such indication, there was no need for them to conduct a more stringent search on
the aforesaid men. By all accounts, therefore, it cannot be concluded that the common
carrier or any of its employees failed to employ the diligence of a good father of a family.
 A tort committed by a stranger which causes injury to a passenger does not accord the
latter a cause of action against the carrier. The negligence for which a common carrier is
held responsible is the negligent omission by the carrier’s employees to prevent the tort
from being committed when the same could have been foreseen and prevented by them
(Pilapil v. Court of Appeals).
Fortuitous event
1. Independent of human will
2. Impossible to foresee or impossible to avoid
3. Renders it impossible to comply with the obligation in a normal manner
4. Free from any participation in the aggravation of the injury resulting to the obligee