VILLA REY TRANSIT, INC.

, petitioner,  RTC: The defendant must, therefore, respond for damages resulting from
vs. its breach of contract for carriage. As the complaint alleged a total damage
THE COURT OF APPEALS, TRINIDAD A. QUINTOS, PRIMA A. QUINTOS, AND of only P63, 750.00 although as elsewhere shown in this decision the
JULITA A. QUINTOS, respondents. damages for wake and burial expenses, loss of income, death of the victim,
G.R. No. L-25499 February 18, 1970, EN BANC  and attorneys fee reach the aggregate of P79, 615.95, this Court finds it
CONCEPCION, C.J.: just that said damages be assessed at total of only P63, 750.00 as prayed
for in plaintiffs' amended complaint.
FACTS: CA: Affirmed RTC
-An Izuzu First Class passenger bus owned and operated by Villa Rey Hence, the present petition for review on certiorari, filed by Villa Rey
Transit, and driven by Laureano Casim, left Lingayen, Pangasinan, for Transit, Inc.
Manila.
-Among its paying passengers was the deceased, Policronio Quintos, Jr. ISSUE: Amount of damages to be recovered by the Quintos’
who sat on the first seat, second row, right side of the bus.
HELD and RATIO: The determination of such amount depends, mainly
-At about 4:55 o'clock a.m. the vehicle frontally hit the rear side of a upon two (2) factors, namely: (1) the number of years on the basis of
bullcart filled with hay. As a result the end of a bamboo pole placed on top which the damages shall be computed and (2) the rate at which the losses
of the hayload and tied to the cart to hold it in place, hit the right side of sustained by said respondents should be fixed.
the windshield of the bus. The protruding end of the bamboo pole,
penetrated through the glass windshield and landed on the face of 1) The first factor was based upon the life expectancy of Policronio
Policronio Quintos, Jr. who, because of the impact died due to traumatic Quintos, Jr., which was placed at 33-1/3 years — he being over 29 years of
shock due to cerebral injuries. age (or around 30 years for purposes of computation) at the time of his
demise — by applying the formula (2/3 x [80-301 = life expectancy)
-The private respondents, Trinidad, Prima and Julita, all surnamed Quintos, adopted in the American Expectancy Table of Mortality or the actuarial of
are the sisters and only surviving heirs of Policronio Quintos Jr., who died Combined Experience Table of Mortality.
single, leaving no descendants nor ascendants. Said respondents herein
brought this action against herein petitioner, Villa Rey Transit, Inc. for CONTENTION OF VILLA REY TRANS: the lower courts had erred in adopting
breach of the contract of carriage between said petitioner and the said formula and in not acting in accordance with Alcantara v. Surro1 in
deceased Policronio Quintos, Jr., to recover the aggregate sum of which the damages were computed on a four (4) year basis, despite the
P63,750.00 as damages, including attorney's fees. fact that the victim therein was 39 years old, at the time of his death, and
had a life expectancy of 28.90 years.
CONTENTION OF VILLA REY TRANS: The mishap was due to a fortuitous
event. SC: The case cited is not controlling in the one at bar. In the Alcantara
case, none of the parties had questioned the propriety of the four-year
RTC and CA: Rejected contention and found that the accident and the basis adopted by the trial court in making its award of damages. Both
death of Policronio had been due to the negligence of the bus driver, for parties appealed, but only as regards the amount thereof. The plaintiffs
whom petitioner was liable under its contract of carriage with the assailed the non-inclusion, in its computation, of the bonus that the
deceased. corporation, which was the victim's employer, had awarded to deserving
officers and employees, based upon the profits earned less than two (2)
months before the accident that resulted in his death. The defendants, in to take place upon the finality of the decision therein, the liability of
turn, objected to the sum awarded for the fourth year, which was treble petitioner herein had been fixed at the rate only of P2,184.00 a year, which
that of the previous years, based upon the increases given, in that fourth is the annual salary of Policronio Quintos, Jr. at the time of his death, as a
year, to other employees of the same corporation. Neither this objection young "training assistant" in the Bacnotan Cement Industries, Inc.
nor said claim for inclusion of the bonus was sustained by this Court.
Accordingly, the same had not thereby laid down any rule on the length of In other words, unlike the Alcantara case, on which petitioner relies, the
time to be used in the computation of damages. lower courts did not consider, in the present case, Policronio's potentiality
and capacity to increase his future income. Indeed, upon the conclusion of
The determination of the indemnity to be awarded to the heirs of a his training period, he was supposed to have a better job and be promoted
deceased person has no fixed basis. Much is left to the discretion of the from time to time, and, hence, to earn more, if not — considering the
court considering the moral and material damages involved, and so it has growing importance of trade, commerce and industry and the concomitant
been said that "(t) here can be no exact or uniform rule for measuring the rise in the income level of officers and employees 
value of a human life and the measure of damages cannot be arrived at by therein — much more.
precise mathematical calculation, but the amount recoverable depends on
the particular facts and circumstances of each case. The life expectancy of 3) On the determination of the losses or damages sustained by the private
the deceased or of the beneficiary, whichever is shorter, is an important respondents, as dependents and intestate heirs of the deceased
factor. > Said damages consist, not of the full amount of his earnings, but of the
support, they received or would have received from him had he not died in
Other factors that are usually considered are: (1) pecuniary loss to plaintiff consequence of the negligence of petitioner's agent.
or beneficiary; (2) loss of support (3) loss of service (4) loss of society; (5) > Earning capacity, as an element of damages to one's estate for his death
mental suffering of beneficiaries; and (6) medical and funeral expenses. by wrongful act is necessarily his net earning capacity or his capacity to
acquire money, "less the necessary expense for his own living.3 Stated
Thus, life expectancy is, not only relevant, but, also, an important  element otherwise, the amount recoverable is not loss of the entire earning, but
in fixing the amount recoverable by private respondents herein. Although rather the loss of that   portion of the earnings which the beneficiary would
it is not the sole element determinative of said amount, no cogent reason have received.4 In other words, only net earnings, not gross earning, are to
has been given to warrant its disregard and the adoption, in the case at be considered5 that is, the total of the earnings  less expenses necessary in
bar, of a purely arbitrary standard, such as a four-year rule. the creation of such earnings or income 6 and less living and other
2) With respect to the rate at which the damages shall be computed, incidental expenses.7
CONTENTION OF VILLA REY TRANS: impugns the decision appealed from
upon the ground that the damages awarded therein will have to be All things considered, the Court fix the deductible living and other
paid now, whereas most of those sought to be indemnified will be expenses of the deceased at the sum of P1,184.00 a year, or about P100.00
suffered  years later. a month, and that, consequently, the loss sustained by his sisters may be
roughly estimated at P1,000.00 a year or P33,333.33 for the 33-1/3 years
SC: This argument is basically true, and this is, perhaps, one of the reasons of his life expectancy. To this sum of P33, 333.33, the following should be
why the Alcantara case points out the absence of a "fixed basis" for the added: (a) P12, 000.00, pursuant to Arts. 104 and 107 of the Revised Penal
ascertainment of the damages recoverable in litigations like the one at bar. Code, in relation to Article 2206 of our Civil Code, as construed and applied
Just the same, the force of the said argument of petitioner herein is offset by this Court;8 (b) P1,727.95, actually spent by private respondents for
by the fact that, although payment of the award in the case at bar will have medical and burial expenses; and (c) attorney's fee, which was fixed by the
trial court, at P500.00, but which, in view of the appeal taken by petitioner
herein, first to the Court of Appeals and later to this Supreme Court,
should be increased to P2,500.00. In other words, the amount adjudged in
the decision appealed from should be reduced to the aggregate sum of
P49, 561.28, with interest thereon, at the legal rate, from the date of the
promulgation of the decision of the trial court.