02 - Civil Procedure [A. Actions - F. Pleadings]

Question 1

What is civil action?

Answer 1

A civil action is one by which a party sues another for the enforcement or protection of a right, or the prevention or redress of a wrong. [Rule 1, Sec. 3(a)].

Question 2

What are the two kinds of civil actions?

Answer 2

A civil action may either be ordinary or special. Both are governed by the rules for ordinary civil actions, subject to the specific rules prescribed for a special civil action. [Rule 1 Sec. 3(a)]

Question 3

What is a criminal action?

Answer 3

A criminal action is one by which the State prosecutes a person for an act or omission punishable by law.”

People v. Godoy, 243 SCRA 64, 78: “proceedings are to be regarded as criminal when the purpose is primarily punishment, and civil when the purpose is primarily compensatory or remedial…”

Question 4

What is a special proceeding?

Answer 4

A special proceeding is a remedy by which a party seeks to establish a status, a right, or a particular fact. [Rule 1, Sec. 3(c)]

Question 5

What are personal and real actions?

Answer 5

RULE 4.

Section 1. Venue of _real actions_. — Actions affecting title to or possession of real property, or interest therein, shall be commenced and tried in the proper court which has jurisdiction over the area wherein the real property involved, or a portion thereof, is situated.

Forcible entry and detainer actions shall be commenced and tried in the municipal trial court of the municipality or city wherein the real property involved, or a portion thereof, is situated.

Section 2. Venue of _personal actions_. — All other actions may be commenced and tried where the plaintiff or any of the principal plaintiffs resides, or where the defendant or any of the principal defendants resides, or in the case of a non-resident defendant where he may be found, at the election of the plaintiff.

Question 6

What are docket fees?

Answer 6

Docket fees are those paid to the court upon the filing of the pleading or action or proceeding.

Rule 141. Sec. 1. Payment of fees. — Upon the filing of the pleading or other application which initiates an action or proceeding, the fees prescribed therefor shall be paid in full.

Question 7

What is a cause of action?

Answer 7

Rule 2. Section 2. Cause of action, defined. — A cause of action is the act or Omission by which a party violates a right of another.

PNB v. CA: “the fact or combination of facts which affords a party
a right to judicial interference in his behalf’

Question 8

What are the elements of a cause of action?

Answer 8

Elements of a cause of action:

1. A right in favor of the plaintiff by whatever means and under whatever law it arises or is created;
2. An obligation on the part of the named defendant to respect or not to violate such right;
3. Act or omission on the part of such defendant in violation of the right of the plaintiff or constituting a breach of the obligation of the defendant to the plaintiff for which the latter may maintain an action for recovery of damages or other appropriate relief.

Although the first two elements may exist, a cause of action arises only upon the occurrence of the last element, giving the plaintiff the right to maintain an action in court for recovery of damages or other appropriate relief. (Turner v. Lorenzo Shipping Corporation)

Question 9

When is a cause of action deemed commenced?

Answer 9

Section 5. Joinder of causes of action. — A party may in one pleading assert, in the alternative or otherwise, as many causes of action as he may have against an opposing party, subject to the following conditions:

(a) The party joining the causes of action shall comply with the rules on joinder of parties;
(b) The joinder shall not include special civil actions or actions governed by special rules;
(c) Where the causes of action are between the same parties but pertain to different venues or jurisdictions, the joinder may be allowed in the Regional Trial Court provided one of the causes of action falls within the jurisdiction of said court and the venue lies therein; and
(d) Where the claims in all the causes of action are principally for recovery of money, the aggregate amount claimed shall be the test of jurisdiction.

Question 10

What is the difference between a right of action and a cause of action?

Answer 10

An action is the suit filed in court for the enforcement or protection of a right, or the prevention or redress of a wrong (Sec. 3[a], Rule 2, ROC).

A cause of action is the basis of the action filed. Under the Rules of Court “every ordinary civil action must be based on a cause of action” (Sec. 1, Rule 2, ROC).

A cause of action refers to the delict or wrong committed by the defendants, whereas the right of action refers to the right of the plaintiff to institute the action.

Question 11

What is the effect of a failure to state the cause of action?

Answer 11

The complaint may be dismissed if the complaint or the pleading asserting the claim “states no cause of action” (Sec. l[g], Rule 16).

The cause of action must unmistakably be stated or alleged in the complaint or that all the elements of the cause of action required by substantive law must clearly appear from the mere reading of the complaint

“If you have a cause of action, then by all means, state it! State all of its elements in your pleading!”

Question 12

What is the test of the sufficiency of a cause of action?

Answer 12

The test of the sufficiency of the facts alleged in the complaint as constituting a cause of action is whether or not admitting the facts alleged, the court could render a valid verdict in accordance with the prayer of the complaint (Misamis Occidental II Cooperative, Inc. v. David, 468 SCRA 63,72)

Question 13

What is the difference between failure to state a cause of action and a lack of cause of action?

Answer 13

In failure to state cause of action, the case may be dismissed through a Motion to Dismiss under Rule 16, and may be raised at the earliest stages of the proceedings.

However, in a lack of cause of action, dismissal may only be made after a trial on the merits. [Santos v. Santos-Gran]

Question 14

May a party institute two or more suits for a single cause of action?

Answer 14

No. R2, S3. A party may not institute more than one suit for a single cause of action.

Question 15

What is the effect of splitting a single cause of action by filing multiple suits?

Answer 15

Section 4. Splitting a single cause of action; effect of. — If two or more suits are instituted on the basis of the same cause of action, the filing of one or a judgment upon the merits in any one is available as a ground for the dismissal of the others.

Question 16

What is the test to determine whether the two suits relate to a single or common cause of action?

Answer 16

A test to ascertain whether two suits relate to a single or common cause of action is whether the cause of action in the second case existed at the time of the filing of the first complaint. [Umale v. Canoga Park Development Corp., G.R. No. 167246, July 20, 2011, 654 SCRA 155]

Question 17

What are the requisites of litis pendentia?

Answer 17

As a ground for the dismissal of a civil action, litis pendentia refers to a situation where two actions are pending between the same parties for the same cause of action, so that one of them becomes unnecessary and vexatious. This exists when the following requisites are present:

(1) identity of the parties in the two actions;
(2) substantial identity in the causes of action and in the reliefs sought by the parties; and
(3) the identity between the two actions should be such that any judgment that may be rendered in one case, regardless of which party is successful, would amount to res judicata in the other.

Question 18

What is the same evidence test in determining the identity of the causes of action in multiple cases?

Answer 18

The test to determine whether the causes of action are identical is to ascertain whether the same evidence will sustain both actions, or whether there is an identity in the facts essential to the maintenance of the two actions. If the same facts or evidence would sustain both, the two actions are considered the same, and a judgment in the first case is a bar to the subsequent action. [Mallion v. Alcantara, G.R. No. 141528, October 31, 2006]