Notes on Damages

Question 1

Moral: physical
suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and similar injury. Though incapable of pecuniary computation, moral damages
may be recovered if they are the proximate result of the defendant’s wrongful act for omission. (Article 2217, Civil Code).

They are awarded only to enable
the injured party to obtain means, diversions or amusement that will
serve to alleviate the moral suffering he has undergone by reason of the defendant’s culpable action. Its aim is the restoration within the limits of
the possible the spiritual status quo ante.

Exemplary or Corrective: The Commission further explained
that exemplary damages are required by public policy to suppress wanton acts. They are antidotes so that the poison of wickedness may not run through the body politic. (ibid.).

Exemplary or corrective damages are imposed, by way of example or correction for the public good, in addition to the moral, temperate, liquidated or compensatory damages. They are designed to reshape behavior that is socially deleterious in its consequence.

Exemplary or corrective damages are intended to serve as a deterrent to serious
wrongdoings and as a vindication of undue sufferings and wanton invasion of the rights of an injured or a punishment for those guilty
of outrageous conduct.

Nominal: The allowance of nominal damages is generally based on the ground that every injury from its very nature legally imports damage, or that the injury complained of would in the future be evidence in favor of the wrongdoer, especially where, if continued for a sufficient length of time, the invasion of the plaintiff’s rights would ripen into a prescriptive right in favor of the defendant. (22 Am. Jur. 2d 20).

Temperate or Moderate: Temperate or moderate damages, which are more than nominal but less than compensatory damages, may
be recovered when the court finds that some pecuniary loss has been suffered but its amount can not, from the nature of the case, be provided with certainty.

Actual or Compensatory:

Liquidated: Liquidated damages are those agreed upon by the parties to a contract, to be paid in case of breach thereof. (Article 2226, Civil Code). Ordinarily, the court cannot change the amount of liquidated damages agreed upon by the parties. However, Article 2227 of the Civil Code provides that liquidated damages, whether intended as an indemnity or a penalty, shall be equitably reduced if they are
iniquitous or unconscionable. In addition, Article 2228 provides that when the breach of the contract committed by the defendant is not the one contemplated by the parties in agreeing upon the liquidated
damages, the law shall determine the measure of damages, and not the stipulation.

Question 2

Nominal damages are adjudicated in order that a right of the plaintiff, which has been violated or invaded by the defendant, may be vindicated or recognized, and not for the purpose of indemnifying the plaintiff for any loss suffered by him. It is an established rule that nominal damages cannot co-exist with compensatory damages.

Question 3

Moral:

SAFAREFISH

Answer 3

Suffering
Anguish
Fright
Anxiety
REputation
Feeling
Injury
Shock
Humiliation

Question 4

M (Article 2217)
E (Article 2229)
N (Article 2221)
T (Article 2224)
A (Article 2199)
L (Article 2226)

Answer 4

MENTL
17, 29, 21, 24, 26

A
199