Art. 26.
E very person shall respect the dignity, personality, privacy and peace
Violation of Human Dignity and
Privacy
Facets of Privacy
Four types of invasions
(Cordero vs. Buigasco)
Reasonable Expectation Test
(Sps. Hing vs. Choachuy)
of mind of his neighbors and other persons. The following and similar acts,
though they may not constitute a criminal offense, shall produce a cause of
action for damages, prevention and other relief:
(1) Prying into the privacy of another's residence:
(2) Meddling with or disturbing the private life or family relations of another;
(3) Intriguing to cause another to be alienated from his friends;
(4) Vexing or humiliating another on account of his religious beliefs, lowly
station in life, place of birth, physical defect, or other personal condition.
Is it an exclusive list? No. it includes similar acts
1. Physical Sense Seclusion, solitude, security, or
bodily integrity
2. Informational Sense Confidentiality, secrecy, anonymity,
especially with respect to
correspondence, conversation, and
records
3. Proprietary Privacy Limits the use of a person’s name,
likeness, identity, etc.
4. Decisional Sense Liberty, freedom, choice or
autonomy in decision making
According to Dean Prosser:
1. Intrusion – upon plaintiff’s seclusion or solitude or his private affairs
2. Publication of private facts – which are embarrassing to the plaintiff
Elements:
a. American Jurisprudence
1. Public disclosure
2. Of a private fact
3. Offensive and objectionable to a reasonable person
b. Cordero vs. Buigasco
1. Publicity of private/personal information about a person
2. Without the latter’s consent
3. Whether or not such publicity constitutes libel or defamation
3. Publicity which leaves plaintiff in false light in the public eye
Defamation False Light
Gravamen: reputational harm Gravamen: embarrassment of a
person in being made into
someone he is not
May be satisfied if sent via letter Statement should be actually
to a 3rd party made in public
4. Commercial Appropriation
This test determines whether a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy
and whether the expectation has been violated.
Two-part test (Ople v. Torres):
 (1) whether, by his conduct, the individual has exhibited an expectation of
privacy; and
(2) this expectation is one that society recognizes as reasonable

Customs, community norms, and practices may, therefore, limit or extend an

individual’s “reasonable expectation of privacy. Hence, the reasonableness of
a person’s expectation of privacy must be determined on a case-to-case basis
since it depends on the factual circumstances surrounding the case.

Right of Publicity
a. Vindicates the economic interests
Policy considerations behind the
b. Fosters the production of intellectual and creative works by providing
right of publicity
financial incentives
c. Serves both individual and societal interests

Statutes that abrogate or restrict lawsuits brought by individuals who seek

pecuniary damages to salve their broken hearts. ... Such suits include actions
Heart Balm Suit
for Breach of Marriage Promise, alienation of affection, criminal conversation,
and seduction

Depriving one spouse of the affection, society, companionship and comfort of

the other.

Requisites:
Alienation of Affection of Spouse
a. Valid marriage
b. Wrongful conduct by the defendant with the plaintiff’s spouse
c. Loss of affection or consortium
d. Causal relation

Art. 27. Any person suffering material or moral loss because a public servant
or employee refuses or neglects, without just cause, to perform his official duty
Unjustified Refusal or Neglect of a
may file an action for damages and other relief against he latter, without
Public Servant to Perform Official
prejudice to any disciplinary administrative action that may be taken.
Duties
Does it cover malfeasance, misfeasance and non-feasance?

Cyber Tort tort done over cyberspace

Subjective Expectation Test Reasonable Expectation Test

Subjective Expectation vs.
Reasonable Expectation Test
(Vivares vs. St. Therese College)
Expectation is based on wishful Expectation is based on reason
thinking
“In this Social Networking environment, privacy is no longer grounded in
reasonable expectations, but rather in some theoretical protocol better known
as wishful thinking.”

Actual Malice (malice in fact) Presumed Malice

Actual Malice vs. Presumed
Malice
(Disini vs. SOJ)
Offender makes the defamatory
statement with the knowledge that it
is false or with reckless disregard of
whether it was false or not.
Every defamatory imputation is
presumed to be malicious, even if it
be true, if no good intention and
justifiable motive for making it is
shown, except in the following
cases:
 1. A private communication for
legal, moral or social duty; and
2. A fair and true report, made in
good faith.

Injury to person or property of which admiralty will take jurisdiction because of

Maritime Tort its origin on navigable waters in a maritime matter. It includes torts resulting
from malfeasance or negligence, as well as those committed by direct force.
A specific type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that
Toxic Tort exposure to a chemical or dangerous substance caused the plaintiff's injury or
disease.
The test is simple. Distinction must be made between the accident and the
Cause and Fact Test injury, between the event itself, without which there could have been no
(Fernando vs. CA) accident, and those acts of the victim not entering into it, independent of it, but
contributing to his own proper hurt.

(Taylor v.Manila Electric Railroad and Light Co.)

Damages Damage Injury

recompense or loss, hurt, or harm which illegal invasion of a
compensation awarded results from the injury legal right
Damage vs. Injury
for the damage suffered
(Sps. Custodio vs. CA)
Damnum absque injuria – damage without injury (in those instances in which
the loss or harm was not the result of a violation of a legal duty)

Two Components of Actual or Compensatory Damages

Dano emergente vs. Lucro
cessante
Dano Emergente Lucro Cessante
(Magat vs. Medialdea)
value of the loss suffered by the profits which the latter failed to
obligee obtain

Awarded in recognition of a violation of a right of the plaintiff when no actual

damage was done to him.
Nominal Damages
Under article 2221 of the CC, these are damages recoverable in order
to vindicate or recognize the rights of the plaintiff which has been violated or
invaded by the defendant.

Often called punitive damages these are damages requested and/or

awarded in a lawsuit when the defendant's willful acts were malicious, violent,
oppressive, fraudulent, wanton or grossly reckless.

Exemplary Damages May be awarded in the following cases:

1. In criminal actions, when the crime was committed with one or more
aggravating circumstances
2. In quasi-delicts, if the defendant acted with gross negligence
3. In contracts and quasi-contracts, if the defendant acted in wanton,
fraudulent, reckless, oppressive, or malevolent manner

Liability for damages in quasi-

Article 2202. In crimes and quasi-delicts, the defendant shall be liable for all
delicts
damages which are the natural and probable consequences of the act or
 omission complained of. It is not necessary that such damages have been
foreseen or could have reasonably been foreseen by the defendant.

Natural and Probable

One could reasonably expect to result from an act
Consequence

“returning everything to the state as it was before”

restituto in integrum
This principle is commonly followed by courts while awarding damages in
common law negligence cases.

Compensation in money or property for a loss suffered as a form of restitution

Civil Indemnity
to a victim.

Award given to the heirs of the deceased as a form of monetary restitution or

compensation for the death of the victim at the hands of the accused.

Its grant is mandatory and a matter of course, and without need of proof other
than the fact of death as the result of the crime or quasi-delict, and the fact that
Civil Indemnity in death
the accused was responsible therefor.

Article 2206 of the Civil Code, supra, has fixed the death indemnity to be "at
least three thousand pesos, even though there may have been mitigating
circumstances.

Art. 2205. Damages may be recovered:

(1) For loss or impairment of earning capacity in cases of temporary or

permanent personal injury;
When damages may be
recovered ER: (Art. 2206.1): unless the deceased on account of permanent
physical disability not caused by the defendant, had no earning
capacity at the time of his death.

(2) For injury to the plaintiff's business standing or commercial credit.

Art. 2217. Moral damages include 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.

Art. 2219. Moral damages may be recovered in the following and analogous
cases:
(1) A criminal offense resulting in physical injuries;
Moral Damages
(2) Quasi-delicts causing physical injuries;
(3) Seduction, abduction, rape, or other lascivious acts;
(4) Adultery or concubinage;
(5) Illegal or arbitrary detention or arrest;
(6) Illegal search;
(7) Libel, slander or any other form of defamation;
(8) Malicious prosecution;
(9) Acts mentioned in Article 309;
(10) Acts and actions referred to in Articles 21, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, and
35.

In its ordinary concept, an attorney’s fee is the reasonable compensation paid

Attorneys’ fees to a lawyer by his client for the legal services he has rendered to the latter.
 In its extraordinary concept, an attorney’s fee is an indemnity for damages
ordered by the court to be paid by the losing party in a litigation.

In any case, whether there is an agreement or not, the courts can fix a
reasonable compensation which lawyers should receive for their professional
services.
Collateral source rule If an injured person receives compensation for his injuries from a source wholly
independent of the tortfeasor, the payment should not be deducted from the
damages which he would otherwise collect from the tortfeasor
Temperate Damages
Means reasonable damages

It is usually more than nominal damages but less than

compensatory damages and may be recovered when the court finds that
some pecuniary loss has been suffered but its amount cannot, from the nature
of the case, be proved with certainty.

Liquidated Damages Damages whose amount the parties designate during the formation of a
contract for the injured party to collect as compensation upon a specific breach.