MA.

LOURDES VALENZUELA, petitioner,

vs.
COURT OF APPEALS, RICHARD LI and ALEXANDER COMMERCIAL, INC., respondents.
Facts: Plaintiff's version of the accident is as follow
plaintiff Ma. Lourdes Valenzuela was driving from her restaurant at Marcos highway
to her home at Palanza Street, Araneta Avenue. she noticed something wrong with
her tires; she stopped at a lighted place where there were people, to verify whether
she had a flat tire and to solicit help if needed. Having been told by the people
present that her rear right tire was flat and that she cannot reach her home in that
car's condition, she parked along the sidewalk, put on her emergency lights,
alighted from the car, and went to the rear to open the trunk. She was standing at
the left side of the rear of her car pointing to the tools to a man who will help her fix
the tire when she was suddenly bumped by a 1987 Mitsubishi Lancer driven by
defendant Because of the impact plaintiff was thrown against the windshield of the
car of the defendant, which was destroyed, and then fell to the ground.
Defendant Richard Li denied that he was negligent. He was on his way home, He
testified that he was
with a car coming from the opposite direction, travelling at 80 kph, with "full bright
lights". Temporarily blinded, he instinctively swerved to the right to avoid colliding
with the oncoming vehicle, and bumped plaintiff's car, which he did not see because
it was midnight blue in color, with no parking lights or early warning device, and the
area was poorly lighted.
After trial, the lower court sustained the plaintiff's submissions and found defendant
Richard Li guilty of gross negligence and liable for damages under Article 2176 of
the Civil Code.

Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. v. CA and The First Nationwide Assurance Corp. G.R. No.
97412 July 12, 1994 Vitug, J.
FACTS: 13 coils of uncoated 7-wire stress relieved wire strand for pre-stressed
concrete wereshipped on board a vessel owned and operated by Eastern Shipping
Lines at Kobe, Japan,for delivery to Stresstek Post-Tensioning Phils., Inc. in Manila
while en route from Kobe to Manila, the carrying vessel encountered very rough
seas andstormy weather; the coils wrapped in burlap cloth and cardboard paper
were stored in thelower hold of the hatch of the vessel which was flooded with
water; the water entered thehatch when the vessel encountered heavy weather en
route to Manila; upon request, asurvey of bad order cargo was conducted at the pier
in the presence of the representatives of the consignee and E. Razon, Inc. and it was
found that 7 coils were rusty on one sideeach; upon survey conducted at the
consignees warehouse it was found that the wettingof the cargo was caused by
fresh water that entered the hatch when the vesselencountered heavy weather; all
13 coils were extremely rusty and totally unsuitable forthe intended purpose The
First Nationwide Assurance Corp. indemnified the consignee in the amount of
P171,923.00 for damage and loss to the insured cargo
ISSUE: WON Eastern Shipping Lines is liable
HELD: Yes. under Art. 1733, common carriers are bound to observe extraordinary vigilance overgoods according to all circumstances of each case Art.
1735: In all cases other than those mentioned in Art. 1734, if the goods are
lost,destroyed or deteriorated, common carriers are presumed to have been at fault
or to haveacted negligently, unless they prove that they observed extraordinary
diligence Since the carrier has failed to establish any caso fortuito, the
presumption by law of faultor negligence on the part of the carrier applies; and the
carrier must present evidence thatit has observed the extraordinary diligence
required by Article 1733 of the Civil Code inorder to escape liability for damage or
destruction to the goods that it had admittedlycarried in this case. But no evidence
was presented; hence, the carrier cannot escapeliability.