Regino v. PCST (TORTS)
Regino v. PCST (TORTS)
Generally, liability for tort arises only between parties not otherwise bound
by a contract. An academic institution, however, may be held liable for tort
even if it has an existing contract with its students, since the act that
violated the contract may also be a tort. We ruled thus in PSBA vs. CA, from
which we quote:
x x x A perusal of Article 2176 [of the Civil Code] shows that obligations
arising from quasidelicts or tort, also known as extracontractual obligations,
arise only between parties not otherwise bound by contract, whether
express or implied. However, this impression has not prevented this Court
from determining the existence of a tort even when there obtains a contract.
In Air France v. Carrascoso (124 Phil. 722; 18 SCRA 155), the private
respondent was awarded damages for his unwarranted expulsion from a
firstclass seat aboard the petitioner airline. It is noted, however, that the
Court referred to the petitionerairlines liability as one arising from tort, not
one arising form a contract of carriage. In effect, Air France is authority for
the view that liability from tort may exist even if there is a contract, for the
act that breaks the contract may be also a tort. x x x This view was not all
that revolutionary, for even as early as 1918, this Court was already of a
similar mind. In Cangco v. Manila Railroad (38 Phil. 780), Mr. Justice Fisher
elucidated thus: x x x. When such a contractual relation exists the obligor
may break the contract under such conditions that the same act which
constitutes a breach of the contract would have constituted the source of an
extracontractual obligation had no contract existed between the parties.
Immediately what comes to mind is the chapter of the Civil Code on Human
Relations, particularly Article 21 x x x.