View full case

MERCURY DRUG CORPORATION v. SEBASTIAN M. BAKING

FACTS:

Sebastian M. Baking went to the clinic of Dr. Cesar Sy for a medical check-up, where he was prescribed Diamicron and Benalize tablets. He went to Mercury Drug Corporation to buy the prescribed medicines, but the saleslady misread the prescription and sold him Dormicum, a potent sleeping tablet. Unaware of the mistake, Baking took one pill of Dormicum on three consecutive days. On the third day, he got into a vehicular accident, falling asleep while driving. Suspecting that the medicine may have caused the accident, Baking went back to Dr. Sy's clinic, who confirmed the mistake. Baking then filed a complaint for damages against Mercury Drug Corporation. The trial court ruled in favor of Baking and awarded damages. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in its entirety. Mercury Drug Corporation filed a petition for review, arguing that the decision was not in accordance with the law.

ISSUES:

  1. Whether petitioner Mercury Drug Co. Inc. was negligent, and if so, whether such negligence was the proximate cause of respondent Baking's accident.

  2. Whether the award of moral damages, attorney's fees, litigation expenses, and cost of the suit is justified.

RULING:

  1. Yes, the petitioner Mercury Drug Co. Inc. was negligent. The Court ruled that the petitioner's employee was grossly negligent in dispensing Dormicum instead of the prescribed Diamicron. This negligence was found to be the proximate cause of the respondent's accident as the potent effects of Dormicum, a sleeping tablet, caused the respondent to fall asleep while driving.

  2. The Court affirmed the award of moral damages but reduced the amount from P250,000.00 to P50,000.00. It also awarded exemplary damages of P25,000.00. However, the award of attorney's fees and litigation expenses was deleted for lack of basis in the trial court's decision.

PRINCIPLES:

  • Quasi-delict (Article 2176, Civil Code): The elements required are (a) damage suffered by the plaintiff; (b) fault or negligence of the defendant; and (c) a causal connection between the fault or negligence and the damage.

  • Proximate Cause: Defined as a cause that produces an injury in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, such that the result would not have occurred otherwise.

  • Employer's Liability for Employee's Acts (Article 2180, Civil Code): Employers are liable for damages caused by their employees acting within the scope of their assigned tasks, unless they can prove that they observed the diligence of a good father of a family in supervising their employees.

  • Moral Damages (Article 2219, Civil Code): Awards may be made in cases of physical suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, or social humiliation, among others.

  • Exemplary Damages (Article 2229, Civil Code): These may be awarded by way of example or correction for the public good.

  • Attorney's Fees and Litigation Expenses: The reasons for awarding these must be explicitly stated in the text of the court’s decision, not merely in the dispositive portion.