REMEDIAL LAW | De Guzman vs CA G.R. Nos. 92029-30, December 20 1990

De Guzman vs CA 

G.R. Nos. 92029-30, December 20 1990


FACTS The petitioner and respondent had a longstanding friendship involving financial transactions. The petitioner issued several checks to the respondent, which were allegedly settled or condoned. Years later, the respondent demanded payment for the checks, claiming the amounts were not settled. The petitioner filed a complaint against the respondent, alleging that the respondent's demand was baseless and seeking damages. The trial court dismissed the complaint for lack of cause of action. The petitioner appealed to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the dismissal. Whether the petitioner stated a sufficient cause of action in the complaint.


RULING Yes. The cause of action must always consist of two elements: (1) the plaintiff's primary right and the defendant's corresponding primary duty, whatever may be the subject to which they relate — person, character, property or contract; and (2) the delict or wrongful act or omission of the defendant, by which the primary right and duty have been violated. The cause of action is determined not by the prayer of the complaint but by the facts alleged.


Here, from the allegation of the complaint in this case it appears that, (1) petitioner has a primary right, because of having paid his obligation to private respondent, to have the checks he issued to cover the amount returned to him or otherwise cancelled by private respondent; and (2) the primary right of was violated when private respondent demanded payment of a settled obligation relying on the very checks of petitioner he had not returned. Consequently, on account of such demand for payment for an obligation duly settled, the petitioner thereby suffered damages and should be afforded such relief as prayed for in the complaint. Also, contrary to the observation made by the appellate court, the cause of action had not prescribed. The cause of action accrued only on August 20, 1988 when in a demand letter for payment private respondent thereby committed a wrongful act against petitioner. The complaint was filed promptly on September 15, 1988, well within the four (4) year prescriptive period of an action of this nature. 








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