Polo Pantaleon, along with his family, joined a tour of Western Europe organized by

Trafalgar Tours of Europe, Ltd., in October 1991. On the last day of the tour, they visited
the Coster Diamond House in Amsterdam. Mrs. Pantaleon decided to purchase a
diamond, a pendant, and a chain totaling US $13,826.00.
Polo Pantaleon presented his American Express credit card for payment but faced
delays in approval. The delays caused the tour group to miss their city tour of
Amsterdam and their ferry to London. Pantaleon later demanded an apology from
American Express for the inconvenience. American Express refused to apologize,
prompting Pantaleon to file a lawsuit for damages.
On 5 August 1996, the Makati City RTC rendered a decision in favor of Pantaleon,
awarding him P500,000.00 as moral damages, P300,000.00 as exemplary damages,
P100,000.00 as attorney's fees, and P85,233.01 as expenses of litigation.
Respondent filed a Notice of Appeal, while Pantaleon moved for partial reconsideration,
praying that the trial court award the increased amount of moral and exemplary
damages he had prayed for. The RTC denied Pantaleon's motion for partial
reconsideration, and thereafter gave due course to respondent's Notice of Appeal.
On 18 August 2006, the Court of Appeals rendered a decision reversing the award of
damages in favor of Pantaleon, holding that respondent had not breached its obligations
to petitioner. Hence, this petition.
Issue:
WON American Express breached its obligations to Pantaleon by failing to promptly
approve his credit card purchase at the Coster Diamond House, leading to damages.

Ruling:
The court found that American Express had indeed breached its obligations by causing
undue delay in approving Pantaleon's purchase. Despite the absence of a specific
timeframe for approval in the contract, the court considered one hour to be
unreasonably long for such a transaction. This delay resulted in moral damages due to
the humiliation, mental anguish, and inconvenience suffered by Pantaleon and his
family. The court upheld the trial court's decision to award moral and exemplary
damages, attorney's fees, and expenses of litigation. The amounts awarded were
deemed appropriate given the circumstances of the case. Therefore, the Court of
Appeals' decision
was reversed, and the trial court's decision was reinstated.