Digest: Santos v. Bernabe

Digest: Santos v. Bernabe

Facts:

•On March 20, 1928, Urbano Santos (plaintiff in this appeal) deposited in Jose C. Bernabe's warehouse 778 cavans and 38 kilos of palay while Pablo Tiongson  deposited 1,026 cavans and 9 kilos of the same grain.

•Pablo Tiongson filed with the Court of First Instance of Bulacan a complaint against Jose C. Bernabe, to recover from the latter the 1,026 cavans and 9 kilos of palay deposited in Bernabe’s warehouse. At the same time he applied for a writ of attachment against  the attachable property of Jose C. Bernabe, including 924 cavans and 31 1/2 kilos of palay found by the sheriff in his warehouse.

•It does not appear that the sacks of palay of Urbano Santos and those of Pablo Tiongson, deposited in Jose C. Bernabe's warehouse, bore any marks or signs, nor were they separated one from the other.

•Urbano Santos, intervened in the attachment of the palay. He contends that Pablo Tiongson cannot claim the 924 cavans and 31 ½ kilos of palay attached by the defendant sheriff as part of those deposited by him in Jose C. Bernabe's warehouse. But upon Pablo Tiongson's filing the proper bond, the sheriff proceeded with the attachment, giving rise to the present complaint.

Issue:

Whether or not Tiongson can claim the 924 cavans of rice as his own.

Ruling:

No. The number of kilos in a cavan not having been determined, we will take the proportion only of the 924 cavans of palay which were attached and sold, thereby giving Urbano Santos, who deposited 778 cavans, 398.49 thereof, and Pablo Tiongson, who deposited 1,026 cavans, 525.51, or the value thereof at the rate of P3 per cavan. 

The cavans of palay belonging to the plaintiff Urbano Santos, having been mixed with the 1,026 cavans and 9 kilos of palay belonging to the defendant Pablo Tiongson in Jose C. Bernabe's warehouse; the sheriff having found only 924 cavans and 31 1/2 kilos of palay in said warehouse at the time of the attachment thereof; and there being no means of separating from said 924 cavans and 31 1/2 of palay what belongs to  Urbano Santos and what belongs to Pablo Tiongson, the following rule prescribed in article 381 of the Civil Code for cases of this nature, is applicable:

Art. 381. If, by the will of their owners, two things of identical or dissimilar nature are mixed, or if the mixture occurs accidentally, if in the latter case the things cannot be separated without injury, each owner shall acquire a right in the mixture proportionate to the part belonging to him, according to the value of the things mixed or commingled.