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Furtuitous Event
Furtuitous Event
Under NWA policy, affected passengers are protected in their NWA narrates in its narration of events, that Ohashi politely
booking for the next available flight in case of cancellations. This approached the petitioner in the shuttle bus and informed him that
means that if there are available seats in the next flight, the delayed they needed to accommodate two original priority passengers who
passengers would be accommodated with priority given to first class arrived. Ohashi politely asked the petitioner to alight. Ohashi assured
and business class passengers. If only limited seats are available, the the petitioner that he would look for a volunteer passenger who would
delayed passengers are wait-listed according to their priority level and give up his seat to accommodate the petitioner and asked him to wait
in the sequence of their check-in. In all cases, the original passengers inside the terminal. NWA alleges that the petitioner gracefully
of the next flight are prioritized over the delayed passengers. complied without objections. Ohashi found a volunteer passenger
within ten minutes. NWA immediately transported the petitioner to the
At around 9:00 p.m., the storm subsided and the airport airplane for the flight.
resumed its operations. On this day, the NRT extended the airplane
curfew to 1:00 a.m., which usually is 11pm, to accommodate the NWA maintains that Ohashi has an impeccable service record
delayed flights and to make up for lost time. The delegates opted to in customer relations and has received multiple commendations.
be wait-listed for Flight No. 22. The petitioner was placed last in the
wait-list as he was the last economy class passenger to check in for In either case, the petitioner was given a dummy boarding
Flight No. 10. To ensure departure before the 1:00 a.m. curfew, NWA pass for Seat No. 35 in the name of "Eddie Tanno." The dummy
gave out "dummy" boarding passes to the wait-listed passengers boarding pass was issued out of necessity due to the lack of time to
even before the priority passengers boarded the plane. issue a new one. The petitioner, however, thought it was a real
boarding pass. He proceeded to Seat No. 35-H and found it occupied
The passengers of Flight 22 were called for boarding at by Eddie Tanno. He showed the dummy boarding pass to Tanno who,
around 11:00 p.m. and the delegates boarded the shuttle taking them noticing his name irately asked, "Can't you read? " An attendant
to the airplane. But before the shuttle bus could leave, NWA Customer noticed the commotion and immediately escorted the petitioner to
Service Agent Tsuruki Ohashi entered the shuttle and informed the Seat No. 15-H, his allotted vacant seat.
petitioner that he could not take Flight 22 as no available seat was left
for him. Unfortunately, Flight No. 22 failed to depart in time to beat the
Narita curfew. The passengers of Flight No. 22 were returned to the
According to the petitioner's version of events, Ohashi barged terminal where they had to wait with 1,500 other stranded
into the bus and shouted "Marito, Marito Bernales, where are you?" passengers. All the nearby hotels were fully booked from the many
When the petitioner identified himself, Ohashi allegedly yelled, flight cancellations. Because it was already late, NWA failed to find
"Bullshit, Marito Bernales, you are not included in the manifest. Get billeting for the stranded Flight No. 22 passengers and they had to
out! Get out!" Ohashi allegedly took the petitioner's boarding pass and spend the night at the airport; they were given blankets, pillows,
grabbed him by the arm before ejecting him from the shuttle. The snacks, water, and food coupons. The petitioner claims that he was
shuttle bus carrying his hand-carried bag left the petitioner alone made to sleep on the terminal floor "akin to the beggars of Quiapo
outside the terminal without his money, passport, and other travel and Baclaran" and had to suffer the discomfort of using the public
documents. toilets.
The next morning, NWA gave the delegates two options: (1) Ruling:
take a direct flight to Honolulu scheduled for 3 October 2002; or (2)
take a 3:35 p.m. flight later that day to Los Angeles, California, with an Moral damages predicated upon a breach of a carriage
immediate connecting flight to Honolulu. The delegates chose the contract is only recoverable in instances where the mishap results
second option so they could leave immediately. The delegates arrived in the death of a passenger, or where the carrier is guilty of fraud
at Honolulu on 2 October 2002 between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., Honolulu or bad faith. Bad faith is not simple negligence or bad judgment; it
time. But they had already missed the courtesy calls they were to involves ill intentions and a conscious design to do a wrongful
make on the governor and the mayor, which were scheduled for act for a dishonest purpose.
earlier that day.
The arrival of Typhoon Higos was an extraordinary and
On 12 February 2003, the petitioner filed a complaint for moral unavoidable event. Its occurrence made it impossible for NWA to bring
and exemplary damages against the respondent NWA for breach of the petitioner to Honolulu in time for his commitments. The Court
their contract of carriage. The petitioner alleged that Ohashi's rude cannot hold the respondent liable for a breach of contract resulting
treatment, his ejection from the shuttle bus, the resulting missed from a fortuitous event. Moreover, the Court finds that NWA did not act
obligations due to the flight's delay, and the humiliation from the in bad faith or in a wanton, fraudulent, reckless, or oppressive
ordeal caused him immense mental anguish and moral shock. manner. On the contrary, it exerted its best efforts to accommodate
the petitioner on Flight No. 22 and to lessen the petitioner's discomfort
On 30 April 2003, NWA filed its answer denying that Ohashi, or when he and the other passengers were left to pass the night at the
any of its employees, forcibly ejected the petitioner or treated him terminal.
rudely. NWA insisted that it acted in good faith and never in a wanton,
fraudulent, oppressive, or malevolent manner. The primary cause of NWA's delay in the fulfillment of its
obligation was the unusually strong typhoon that struck Japan that
On appeal, CA reversed the RTC decision and dismissed the evening. We take notice that this was Typhoon Higos, one of the most
complaint. The CA held that: powerful typhoons to hit Japan as of that date.19 Typhoon Higos
(1) moral damages cannot be awarded in breaches of contracts of resulted in the cancellation of more than 200 flights.20
carriage except in cases of the death of a passenger or when the
common carrier acted in bad faith; From this perspective, the Court does not attribute bad faith or
(2) the typhoon was the real and proximate cause of the cancellation ill motives on NWA for cancelling Flight No. 10. Pushing through
of flights and NWA's failure to bring the petitioner to Honolulu in time; would have recklessly endangered the lives of the passengers and
(3) the petitioner's accusation that Mr. Ohashi verbally abused him is the crew. Evidently, the real and proximate cause of NWA's breach of
not believable and contrary to ordinary human experience; contract was a fortuitous event.
(4) the airline cannot be responsible for the remarks of Eddie Tanno, a
fellow passenger; and Moreover, NWA demonstrated good faith when it exerted its
(5) 1,500 other passengers similarly experienced the discomfort of best efforts to accommodate the delayed Flight No. 10 passengers on
spending the night at the airport, and NWA did not maliciously single Flight No. 22. While Flight No. 22 also failed to leave, the failure was
him out. caused by the 1:00 p.m. Narita curfew. Again, we cannot attribute
malice on NWA for the cancellation of Flight No. 22.
Issue:
When are moral damages established upon breach of a Moreover, the Court finds it hard to believe that neither the
carriage contract recoverable? petitioner nor the other delegates protested on the spot against the
Was the typhoon a fortuitous event? Why?
alleged abusive treatment. As the CA observed, this version of events
is contrary to ordinary human experience. Finally, the court also cannot impute bad faith on NWA's failure
to house the passengers in any nearby hotels. Flight No. 22 was
Moreover, Ohashi has a good track record in customer service cancelled at around 1 a.m. Considering the number of flights
and was the recipient of several commendation letters that were cancelled earlier that evening, it is understandable that hotel rooms
presented in court. Ohashi's track record contradicts the petitioner's had already been booked by the other airlines also billeting their
portrayal of him as an unreasonably rude person. passengers.