Case Digest: Mitsui Lines vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 119571

 

Mitsui Lines vs. Court of Appeals, 287 SCRA 366, G.R. No. 119571, March 11, 1998

Subject: Transportation Law

FACTS

Petitioner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. is a foreign corporation represented in the Philippines by its agent, Magsaysay Agencies. It entered into a contract of carriage through Meister Transport, Inc., an international freight forwarder, with private respondent Lavine Loungewear Manufacturing Corporation to transport goods of the latter from Manila to Le Havre, France. Petitioner undertook to deliver the goods to France 28 days from initial loading. On July 24, 1991, petitioner's vessel loaded private respondent's container van for carriage at the said port of origin.

However, in Kaoshiung, Taiwan the goods were not transshipped immediately, with the result that the shipment arrived in Le Havre only on November 14, 1991. The consignee allegedly paid only half the value of the said goods on the ground that they did not arrive in France until the "off season" in that country. The remaining half was allegedly charged to the account of private respondent which in turn demanded payment from petitioner through its agent.

ISSUE

Whether or not private respondent's action is for "loss or damage" to goods shipped, within the meaning of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA).

RULING

No. The suit is not for "loss or damage" to goods contemplated in §3(6), the question of prescription of action is governed not by the COGSA but by Art. 1144 of the Civil Code.

Article 1144 of the Civil Code provides for a prescriptive period of ten years. As defined in the Civil Code and as applied to Section 3(6), paragraph 4 of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, "loss" contemplates merely a situation where no delivery at all was made by the shipper of the goods because the same had perished, gone out of commerce, or disappeared in such a way that their existence is unknown or they cannot be recovered.

In this case, there would be some merit in appellant's insistence that the damages suffered by him as a result of the delay in the shipment of his cargo are not covered by the prescriptive provision of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act above referred to, if such damages were due, not to the deterioration and decay of the goods while in transit, but to other causes independent of the condition of the cargo upon arrival, like a drop in their market value.