G.R. No.

157479 November 24, 2010

PHILIP TURNER and ELNORA TURNER, Petitioners,

vs.
LORENZO SHIPPING CORPORATION, Respondent.

DECISION

BERSAMIN, J.:

This case concerns the right of dissenting stockholders to demand payment of the value of their
shareholdings.

In the stockholders’ suit to recover the value of their shareholdings from the corporation, the
Regional Trial Court (RTC) upheld the dissenting stockholders, herein petitioners, and ordered the
corporation, herein respondent, to pay. Execution was partially carried out against the respondent.
On the respondent’s petition for certiorari, however, the Court of Appeals (CA) corrected the RTC
and dismissed the petitioners’ suit on the ground that their cause of action for collection had not yet
accrued due to the lack of unrestricted retained earnings in the books of the respondent.

Thus, the petitioners are now before the Court to challenge the CA’s decision promulgated on March
4, 2003 in C.A.-G.R. SP No. 74156 entitled Lorenzo Shipping Corporation v. Hon. Artemio S. Tipon,
1
in his capacity as Presiding Judge of Branch 46 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila, et al.

Antecedents

The petitioners held 1,010,000 shares of stock of the respondent, a domestic corporation engaged
primarily in cargo shipping activities. In June 1999, the respondent decided to amend its articles of
incorporation to remove the stockholders’ pre-emptive rights to newly issued shares of stock. Feeling
that the corporate move would be prejudicial to their interest as stockholders, the petitioners voted
against the amendment and demanded payment of their shares at the rate of ₱2.276/share based
on the book value of the shares, or a total of ₱2,298,760.00.

The respondent found the fair value of the shares demanded by the petitioners unacceptable. It
insisted that the market value on the date before the action to remove the pre-emptive right was
taken should be the value, or ₱0.41/share (or a total of ₱414,100.00), considering that its shares
were listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange, and that the payment could be made only if the
respondent had unrestricted retained earnings in its books to cover the value of the shares, which
was not the case.

The disagreement on the valuation of the shares led the parties to constitute an appraisal committee
pursuant to Section 82 of the Corporation Code, each of them nominating a representative, who
together then nominated the third member who would be chairman of the appraisal committee. Thus,
the appraisal committee came to be made up of Reynaldo Yatco, the petitioners’ nominee; Atty.
Antonio Acyatan, the respondent’s nominee; and Leo Anoche of the Asian Appraisal Company, Inc.,
the third member/chairman.

On October 27, 2000, the appraisal committee reported its valuation of ₱2.54/share, for an
2
aggregate value of ₱2,565,400.00 for the petitioners.
Subsequently, the petitioners demanded payment based on the valuation of the appraisal
committee, plus 2%/month penalty from the date of their original demand for payment, as well as the
3
reimbursement of the amounts advanced as professional fees to the appraisers.

4
In its letter to the petitioners dated January 2, 2001, the respondent refused the petitioners’
demand, explaining that pursuant to the Corporation Code, the dissenting stockholders exercising
their appraisal rights could be paid only when the corporation had unrestricted retained earnings to
cover the fair value of the shares, but that it had no retained earnings at the time of the petitioners’
demand, as borne out by its Financial Statements for Fiscal Year 1999 showing a deficit of
₱72,973,114.00 as of December 31, 1999.

Upon the respondent’s refusal to pay, the petitioners sued the respondent for collection and
damages in the RTC in Makati City on January 22, 2001. The case, docketed as Civil Case No. 01-
5
086, was initially assigned to Branch 132.

On June 26, 2002, the petitioners filed their motion for partial summary judgment, claiming that:

7) xxx the defendant has an accumulated unrestricted retained earnings of ELEVEN MILLION NINE
HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED NINETY (P11,975,490.00) PESOS,
Philippine Currency, evidenced by its Financial Statement as of the Quarter Ending March 31, 2002;
xxx

8) xxx the fair value of the shares of the petitioners as fixed by the Appraisal Committee is final, that
the same cannot be disputed xxx

9) xxx there is no genuine issue to material fact and therefore, the plaintiffs are entitled, as a matter
6
of right, to a summary judgment. xxx

The respondent opposed the motion for partial summary judgment, stating that the determination of
the unrestricted retained earnings should be made at the end of the fiscal year of the respondent,
and that the petitioners did not have a cause of action against the respondent.

During the pendency of the motion for partial summary judgment, however, the Presiding Judge of
Branch 133 transmitted the records to the Clerk of Court for re-raffling to any of the RTC’s special
commercial courts in Makati City due to the case being an intra-corporate dispute. Hence, Civil Case
No. 01-086 was re-raffled to Branch 142.

Nevertheless, because the principal office of the respondent was in Manila, Civil Case No. 01-086
7
was ultimately transferred to Branch 46 of the RTC in Manila, presided by Judge Artemio Tipon,
pursuant to the Interim Rules of Procedure on Intra-Corporate Controversies (Interim Rules)
requiring intra-corporate cases to be brought in the RTC exercising jurisdiction over the place where
the principal office of the corporation was found.

After the conference in Civil Case No. 01-086 set on October 23, 2002, which the petitioners’
8
counsel did not attend, Judge Tipon issued an order, granting the petitioners’ motion for partial
summary judgment, stating:

As to the motion for partial summary judgment, there is no question that the 3-man committee
mandated to appraise the shareholdings of plaintiff submitted its recommendation on October 27,
2000 fixing the fair value of the shares of stocks of the plaintiff at P2.54 per share. Under Section 82
of the Corporation Code:
"The findings of the majority of the appraisers shall be final, and the award shall be paid by the
corporation within thirty (30) days after the award is made."

"The only restriction imposed by the Corporation Code is–"

"That no payment shall be made to any dissenting stockholder unless the corporation has
unrestricted retained earning in its books to cover such payment."

The evidence submitted by plaintiffs shows that in its quarterly financial statement it submitted to the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the defendant has retained earnings of P11,975,490 as of
March 21, 2002. This is not disputed by the defendant. Its only argument against paying is that there
must be unrestricted retained earning at the time the demand for payment is made.

This certainly is a very narrow concept of the appraisal right of a stockholder. The law does not say
that the unrestricted retained earnings must exist at the time of the demand. Even if there are no
retained earnings at the time the demand is made if there are retained earnings later, the fair value
of such stocks must be paid. The only restriction is that there must be sufficient funds to cover the
creditors after the dissenting stockholder is paid. No such allegations have been made by the
9
defendant.

On November 12, 2002, the respondent filed a motion for reconsideration.

On the scheduled hearing of the motion for reconsideration on November 22, 2002, the petitioners
filed a motion for immediate execution and a motion to strike out motion for reconsideration. In the
latter motion, they pointed out that the motion for reconsideration was prohibited by Section 8 of the
Interim Rules. Thus, also on November 22, 2002, Judge Tipon denied the motion for reconsideration
10
and granted the petitioners’ motion for immediate execution.

11
Subsequently, on November 28, 2002, the RTC issued a writ of execution.

Aggrieved, the respondent commenced a special civil action for certiorari in the CA to challenge the
two aforecited orders of Judge Tipon, claiming that:

A.

JUDGE TIPON GRAVELY ABUSED HIS DISCRETION IN GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT TO

THE SPOUSES TURNER, BECAUSE AT THE TIME THE "COMPLAINT" WAS FILED, LSC HAD
NO RETAINED EARNINGS, AND THUS WAS COMPLYING WITH THE LAW, AND NOT
VIOLATING ANY RIGHTS OF THE SPOUSES TURNER, WHEN IT REFUSED TO PAY THEM THE
VALUE OF THEIR LSC SHARES. ANY RETAINED EARNINGS MADE A YEAR AFTER THE
"COMPLAINT" WAS FILED ARE IRRELEVANT TO THE SPOUSES TURNER’S RIGHT TO
RECOVER UNDER THE "COMPLAINT", BECAUSE THE WELL-SETTLED RULE, REPEATEDLY
BROUGHT TO JUDGE TIPON’S ATTENTION, IS "IF NO RIGHT EXISTED AT THE TIME (T)HE
ACTION WAS COMMENCED THE SUIT CANNOT BE MAINTAINED, ALTHOUGH SUCH RIGHT
OF ACTION MAY HAVE ACCRUED THEREAFTER.

B.

JUDGE TIPON IGNORED CONTROLLING CASE LAW, AND THUS GRAVELY ABUSED HIS
DISCRETION, WHEN HE GRANTED AND ISSUED THE QUESTIONED "WRIT OF EXECUTION"
DIRECTING THE EXECUTION OF HIS PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF THE
SPOUSES TURNER, BECAUSE THAT JUDGMENT IS NOT A FINAL JUDGMENT UNDER
SECTION 1 OF RULE 39 OF THE RULES OF COURT AND THEREFORE CANNOT BE SUBJECT
OF EXECUTION UNDER THE SUPREME COURT’S CATEGORICAL HOLDING IN PROVINCE OF
PANGASINAN VS. COURT OF APPEALS.

Upon the respondent’s application, the CA issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), enjoining the
petitioners, and their agents and representatives from enforcing the writ of execution. By then,
however, the writ of execution had been partially enforced.

The TRO lapsed without the CA issuing a writ of preliminary injunction to prevent the execution.
Thereupon, the sheriff resumed the enforcement of the writ of execution.

12
The CA promulgated its assailed decision on March 4, 2003, pertinently holding:

However, it is clear from the foregoing that the Turners’ appraisal right is subject to the legal
condition that no payment shall be made to any dissenting stockholder unless the corporation has
unrestricted retained earnings in its books to cover such payment. Thus, the Supreme Court held
that:

The requirement of unrestricted retained earnings to cover the shares is based on the trust fund
doctrine which means that the capital stock, property and other assets of a corporation are regarded
as equity in trust for the payment of corporate creditors. The reason is that creditors of a corporation
are preferred over the stockholders in the distribution of corporate assets. There can be no
distribution of assets among the stockholders without first paying corporate creditors. Hence, any
disposition of corporate funds to the prejudice of creditors is null and void. Creditors of a corporation
have the right to assume that so long as there are outstanding debts and liabilities, the board of
directors will not use the assets of the corporation to purchase its own stock.

In the instant case, it was established that there were no unrestricted retained earnings when the
Turners filed their Complaint. In a letter dated 20 August 2000, petitioner informed the Turners that
payment of their shares could only be made if it had unrestricted earnings in its books to cover the
same. Petitioner reiterated this in a letter dated 2 January 2001 which further informed the Turners
that its Financial Statement for fiscal year 1999 shows that its retained earnings ending December
31, 1999 was at a deficit in the amount of ₱72,973,114.00, a matter which has not been disputed by
private respondents. Hence, in accordance with the second paragraph of sec. 82, BP 68 supra, the
Turners’ right to payment had not yet accrued when they filed their Complaint on January 22, 2001,
albeit their appraisal right already existed.

In Philippine American General Insurance Co. Inc. vs. Sweet Lines, Inc., the Supreme Court
declared that:

Now, before an action can properly be commenced all the essential elements of the cause of action
must be in existence, that is, the cause of action must be complete. All valid conditions precedent to
the institution of the particular action, whether prescribed by statute, fixed by agreement of the
parties or implied by law must be performed or complied with before commencing the action, unless
the conduct of the adverse party has been such as to prevent or waive performance or excuse non-
performance of the condition.

It bears restating that a right of action is the right to presently enforce a cause of action, while a
cause of action consists of the operative facts which give rise to such right of action. The right of
action does not arise until the performance of all conditions precedent to the action and may be
taken away by the running of the statute of limitations, through estoppel, or by other circumstances
which do not affect the cause of action. Performance or fulfillment of all conditions precedent upon
which a right of action depends must be sufficiently alleged, considering that the burden of proof to
show that a party has a right of action is upon the person initiating the suit.
The Turners’ right of action arose only when petitioner had already retained earnings in the amount
of ₱11,975,490.00 on March 21, 2002; such right of action was inexistent on January 22, 2001 when
they filed the Complaint.

In the doctrinal case of Surigao Mine Exploration Co. Inc., vs. Harris, the Supreme Court ruled:

Subject to certain qualifications, and except as otherwise provided by law, an action commenced
before the cause of action has accrued is prematurely brought and should be dismissed. The fact
that the cause of action accrues after the action is commenced and while it is pending is of no
moment. It is a rule of law to which there is, perhaps, no exception, either at law or in equity, that to
recover at all there must be some cause of action at the commencement of the suit. There are
reasons of public policy why there should be no needless haste in bringing up litigation, and why
people who are in no default and against whom there is as yet no cause of action should not be
summoned before the public tribunals to answer complaints which are groundless. An action
prematurely brought is a groundless suit. Unless the plaintiff has a valid and subsisting cause of
action at the time his action is commenced, the defect cannot be cured or remedied by the
acquisition or accrual of one while the action is pending, and a supplemental complaint or an
amendment setting up such after-accrued cause of action is not permissible.

The afore-quoted ruling was reiterated in Young vs Court of Appeals and Lao vs. Court of Appeals.

The Turners’ apprehension that their claim for payment may prescribe if they wait for the petitioner to
have unrestricted retained earnings is misplaced. It is the legal possibility of bringing the action that
determines the starting point for the computation of the period of prescription. Stated otherwise, the
prescriptive period is to be reckoned from the accrual of their right of action.

Accordingly, We hold that public respondent exceeded its jurisdiction when it entertained the herein
Complaint and issued the assailed Orders. Excess of jurisdiction is the state of being beyond or
outside the limits of jurisdiction, and as distinguished from the entire absence of jurisdiction, means
that the act although within the general power of the judge, is not authorized and therefore void, with
respect to the particular case, because the conditions which authorize the exercise of his general
power in that particular case are wanting, and hence, the judicial power is not in fact lawfully
invoked.

We find no necessity to discuss the second ground raised in this petition.

WHEREFORE, upon the premises, the petition is GRANTED. The assailed Orders and the
corresponding Writs of Garnishment are NULLIFIED. Civil Case No. 02-104692 is hereby ordered
DISMISSED without prejudice to refiling by the private respondents of the action for enforcement of
their right to payment as withdrawing stockholders.

SO ORDERED.

The petitioners now come to the Court for a review on certiorari of the CA’s decision, submitting that:

I.

THE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED SERIOUS ERRORS OF LAW WHEN IT

GRANTED THE PETITION FOR CERTIORARI WHEN THE REGIONAL TRIAL
COURT OF MANILA DID NOT ACT BEYOND ITS JURISDICTION AMOUNTING TO
LACK OF JURISDICTION IN GRANTING THE MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY
JUDGMENT AND IN GRANTING THE MOTION FOR IMMEDIATE EXECUTION OF
JUDGMENT;
 II.

THE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED SERIOUS ERRORS OF LAW WHEN IT

ORDERED THE DISMISSAL OF THE CASE, WHEN THE PETITION FOR
CERTIORARI MERELY SOUGHT THE ANNULMENT OF THE ORDER GRANTING
THE MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND OF THE ORDER
GRANTING THE MOTION FOR IMMEDIATE EXECUTION OF THE JUDGMENT;

III.

THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS HAS DECIDED QUESTIONS OF

SUBSTANCE NOT THEREFORE DETERMINED BY THIS HONORABLE COURT
AND/OR DECIDED IT IN A WAY NOT IN ACCORD WITH LAW OR WITH
JURISPRUDENCE.

Ruling

The petition fails.

The CA correctly concluded that the RTC had exceeded its jurisdiction in entertaining the petitioners’
complaint in Civil Case No. 01-086, and in rendering the summary judgment and issuing writ of
execution.

A.

Stockholder’s Right of Appraisal, In General

A stockholder who dissents from certain corporate actions has the right to demand payment of the
fair value of his or her shares. This right, known as the right of appraisal, is expressly recognized in
Section 81 of the Corporation Code, to wit:

Section 81. Instances of appraisal right. - Any stockholder of a corporation shall have the right to
dissent and demand payment of the fair value of his shares in the following instances:

1. In case any amendment to the articles of incorporation has the effect of changing or restricting the
rights of any stockholder or class of shares, or of authorizing preferences in any respect superior to
those of outstanding shares of any class, or of extending or shortening the term of corporate
existence;

2. In case of sale, lease, exchange, transfer, mortgage, pledge or other disposition of all or
substantially all of the corporate property and assets as provided in the Code; and

3. In case of merger or consolidation. (n)

Clearly, the right of appraisal may be exercised when there is a fundamental change in the charter or
articles of incorporation substantially prejudicing the rights of the stockholders. It does not vest
13
unless objectionable corporate action is taken. It serves the purpose of enabling the dissenting
14
stockholder to have his interests purchased and to retire from the corporation. 1avvphil

Under the common law, there were originally conflicting views on whether a corporation had the
power to acquire or purchase its own stocks. In England, it was held invalid for a corporation to
purchase its issued stocks because such purchase was an indirect method of reducing capital
(which was statutorily restricted), aside from being inconsistent with the privilege of limited liability to
 15
creditors. Only a few American jurisdictions adopted by decision or statute the strict English rule
forbidding a corporation from purchasing its own shares. In some American states where the English
rule used to be adopted, statutes granting authority to purchase out of surplus funds were enacted,
while in others, shares might be purchased even out of capital provided the rights of creditors were
16
not prejudiced. The reason underlying the limitation of share purchases sprang from the necessity
of imposing safeguards against the depletion by a corporation of its assets and against the
17
impairment of its capital needed for the protection of creditors.

Now, however, a corporation can purchase its own shares, provided payment is made out of surplus
18
profits and the acquisition is for a legitimate corporate purpose. In the Philippines, this new rule is
embodied in Section 41 of the Corporation Code, to wit:

Section 41. Power to acquire own shares. - A stock corporation shall have the power to purchase or
acquire its own shares for a legitimate corporate purpose or purposes, including but not limited to the
following cases: Provided, That the corporation has unrestricted retained earnings in its books to
cover the shares to be purchased or acquired:

1. To eliminate fractional shares arising out of stock dividends;

2. To collect or compromise an indebtedness to the corporation, arising out of unpaid subscription, in

a delinquency sale, and to purchase delinquent shares sold during said sale; and

3. To pay dissenting or withdrawing stockholders entitled to payment for their shares under the
provisions of this Code. (n)

The Corporation Code defines how the right of appraisal is exercised, as well as the implications of
the right of appraisal, as follows:

1. The appraisal right is exercised by any stockholder who has voted against the
proposed corporate action by making a written demand on the corporation within 30
days after the date on which the vote was taken for the payment of the fair value of his
shares. The failure to make the demand within the period is deemed a waiver of the
19
appraisal right.

2. If the withdrawing stockholder and the corporation cannot agree on the fair value of
the shares within a period of 60 days from the date the stockholders approved the
corporate action, the fair value shall be determined and appraised by three
disinterested persons, one of whom shall be named by the stockholder, another by the
corporation, and the third by the two thus chosen. The findings and award of the
majority of the appraisers shall be final, and the corporation shall pay their award within
30 days after the award is made. Upon payment by the corporation of the agreed or
awarded price, the stockholder shall forthwith transfer his or her shares to the
20
corporation.

3. All rights accruing to the withdrawing stockholder’s shares, including voting and
dividend rights, shall be suspended from the time of demand for the payment of the fair
value of the shares until either the abandonment of the corporate action involved or the
purchase of the shares by the corporation, except the right of such stockholder to
21
receive payment of the fair value of the shares.
 4. Within 10 days after demanding payment for his or her shares, a dissenting
stockholder shall submit to the corporation the certificates of stock representing his
shares for notation thereon that such shares are dissenting shares. A failure to do so
shall, at the option of the corporation, terminate his rights under this Title X of the
Corporation Code. If shares represented by the certificates bearing such notation are
transferred, and the certificates are consequently canceled, the rights of the transferor
as a dissenting stockholder under this Title shall cease and the transferee shall have all
the rights of a regular stockholder; and all dividend distributions that would have
22
accrued on such shares shall be paid to the transferee.

5. If the proposed corporate action is implemented or effected, the corporation shall pay
to such stockholder, upon the surrender of the certificates of stock representing his
shares, the fair value thereof as of the day prior to the date on which the vote was
taken, excluding any appreciation or depreciation in anticipation of such corporate
23
action.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, no payment shall be made to any dissenting stockholder unless the
corporation has unrestricted retained earnings in its books to cover the payment. In case the
corporation has no available unrestricted retained earnings in its books, Section 83 of the
Corporation Code provides that if the dissenting stockholder is not paid the value of his shares within
30 days after the award, his voting and dividend rights shall immediately be restored.

The trust fund doctrine backstops the requirement of unrestricted retained earnings to fund the
payment of the shares of stocks of the withdrawing stockholders. Under the doctrine, the capital
stock, property, and other assets of a corporation are regarded as equity in trust for the payment of
24
corporate creditors, who are preferred in the distribution of corporate assets. The creditors of a
corporation have the right to assume that the board of directors will not use the assets of the
corporation to purchase its own stock for as long as the corporation has outstanding debts and
25
liabilities. There can be no distribution of assets among the stockholders without first paying
corporate debts. Thus, any disposition of corporate funds and assets to the prejudice of creditors is
26
null and void.

B.

Petitioners’ cause of action was premature

That the respondent had indisputably no unrestricted retained earnings in its books at the time the
petitioners commenced Civil Case No. 01-086 on January 22, 2001 proved that the respondent’s
legal obligation to pay the value of the petitioners’ shares did not yet arise. Thus, the CA did not err
in holding that the petitioners had no cause of action, and in ruling that the RTC did not validly
render the partial summary judgment.

27
A cause of action is the act or omission by which a party violates a right of another. The essential
elements of a cause of action are: (a) the existence of a legal right in favor of the plaintiff; (b) a
correlative legal duty of the defendant to respect such right; and (c) an act or omission by such
defendant in violation of the right of the plaintiff with a resulting injury or damage to the plaintiff for
28
which the latter may maintain an action for the recovery of relief from the defendant. 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
29
appropriate relief.
Section 1, Rule 2, of the Rules of Court requires that every ordinary civil action must be based on a
cause of action. Accordingly, Civil Case No. 01-086 was dismissible from the beginning for being
without any cause of action.

The RTC concluded that the respondent’s obligation to pay had accrued by its having the
unrestricted retained earnings after the making of the demand by the petitioners. It based its
conclusion on the fact that the Corporation Code did not provide that the unrestricted retained
earnings must already exist at the time of the demand.

The RTC’s construal of the Corporation Code was unsustainable, because it did not take into
account the petitioners’ lack of a cause of action against the respondent. In order to give rise to any
obligation to pay on the part of the respondent, the petitioners should first make a valid demand that
the respondent refused to pay despite having unrestricted retained earnings. Otherwise, the
respondent could not be said to be guilty of any actionable omission that could sustain their action to
collect.

Neither did the subsequent existence of unrestricted retained earnings after the filing of the
complaint cure the lack of cause of action in Civil Case No. 01-086. The petitioners’ right of action
could only spring from an existing cause of action. Thus, a complaint whose cause of action has not
yet accrued cannot be cured by an amended or supplemental pleading alleging the existence or
30
accrual of a cause of action during the pendency of the action. For, only when there is an invasion
31
of primary rights, not before, does the adjective or remedial law become operative. Verily, a
premature invocation of the court’s intervention renders the complaint without a cause of action and
32
dismissible on such ground. In short, Civil Case No. 01-086, being a groundless suit, should be
dismissed.

Even the fact that the respondent already had unrestricted retained earnings more than sufficient to
cover the petitioners’ claims on June 26, 2002 (when they filed their motion for partial summary
judgment) did not rectify the absence of the cause of action at the time of the commencement of
Civil Case No. 01-086. The motion for partial summary judgment, being a mere application for relief
33
other than by a pleading, was not the same as the complaint in Civil Case No. 01-086. Thereby,
the petitioners did not meet the requirement of the Rules of Court that a cause of action must exist at
the commencement of an action, which is "commenced by the filing of the original complaint in
34
court."

The petitioners claim that the respondent’s petition for certiorari sought only the annulment of the
assailed orders of the RTC (i.e., granting the motion for partial summary judgment and the motion for
immediate execution); hence, the CA had no right to direct the dismissal of Civil Case No. 01-086.

The claim of the petitioners cannot stand.

Although the respondent’s petition for certiorari targeted only the RTC’s orders granting the motion
for partial summary judgment and the motion for immediate execution, the CA’s directive for the
dismissal of Civil Case No. 01-086 was not an abuse of discretion, least of all grave, because such
dismissal was the only proper thing to be done under the circumstances. According to Surigao Mine
35
Exploration Co., Inc. v. Harris:

Subject to certain qualification, and except as otherwise provided by law, an action commenced
before the cause of action has accrued is prematurely brought and should be dismissed . The
fact that the cause of action accrues after the action is commenced and while the case is pending is
of no moment. It is a rule of law to which there is, perhaps no exception, either in law or in equity,
that to recover at all there must be some cause of action at the commencement of the suit. There
are reasons of public policy why there should be no needless haste in bringing up litigation, and why
people who are in no default and against whom there is as yet no cause of action should not be
summoned before the public tribunals to answer complaints which are groundless. An action
prematurely brought is a groundless suit. Unless the plaintiff has a valid and subsisting cause of
action at the time his action is commenced, the defect cannot be cured or remedied by the
acquisition or accrual of one while the action is pending, and a supplemental complaint or an
amendment setting up such after-accrued cause of action is not permissible.

Lastly, the petitioners argue that the respondent’s recourse of a special action for certiorari was the
wrong remedy, in view of the fact that the granting of the motion for partial summary judgment
constituted only an error of law correctible by appeal, not of jurisdiction.

The argument of the petitioners is baseless. The RTC was guilty of an error of jurisdiction, for it
exceeded its jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the complaint that was not based on an existing
cause of action.

WHEREFORE, the petition for review on certiorari is denied for lack of merit.

We affirm the decision promulgated on March 4, 2003 in C.A.-G.R. SP No. 74156 entitled Lorenzo
Shipping Corporation v. Hon. Artemio S. Tipon, in his capacity as Presiding Judge of Branch 46 of
the Regional Trial Court of Manila, et al.

Costs of suit to be paid by the petitioners.

SO ORDERED.