2020 remedial law notes (Part 1)
Please take note of the following notes in remedial law:
The Regional Trial Court has jurisdiction over actions for cancellation of original certificates of title of land arising from certificates of ancestral land title. The Regional Trial Court also has the power to pass upon the validity of the proceedings of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
The Municipal Trial Court has exclusive jurisdiction over actions for enforcement of an amicable settlement executed before the Barangay regardless of the amount involved pursuant to Section 417 of the Local Government Code.
Allegation of the assessed value of the real property in an action to recover the same is jurisdictional. Failure to allege assessed value is fatal and is not waivable.
Documents such as tax declarations attached to the complaint are considered part of the latter.
Jurisdiction on real property is not based on market value. The court cannot take judicial notice of the assessed value of the real property.
Real property's assessed value cannot be presumed or estimated.
Jurisdiction over real actions is not determined by the answer, but by the allegations in the complaint.
The Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary has exclusive and original jurisdiction over actions to cancel emancipation patents, Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) and certificates of title issued under the agrarian reform program.
Liquidated claims against the government are within the primary jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit, not the court.
The Commission on Audit's jurisdiction over final money judgments rendered by courts or tribunals pertain only to the execution stage. The Commission has not power to modify final and executory judgments.
An action for breach of contract is capable of pecuniary estimation.
Jurisdiction over an action for refund of security deposit is based on the value of the claim, the same being capable of pecuniary estimation.
A petition for declaratory relief assailing the validity of constitutionality of a quasi-legislative rule is incapable of pecuniary estimation.
As a rule, Rule 65 can only be used against the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial power.
An ordinary Regional Trial Court has jurisdiction over commercial cases. Special commercial courts are a mere special designation but such special courts have no exclusive jurisdiction over commercial cases. It would be wrong for a Regional Trial Court to dismiss a commercial case filed before it simply because it is a non-commercial court. The remedy is re-docketing.
A shareholder's action to recover value of equity investment against a securities broker is not an intra-corporate dispute. It is triable by a non-commercial court. Such suit is not against the corporation.
The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), now known as the Humans Settlement Adjudication Commission (HSAC), has jurisdiction over cases for annulment of mortgage agreements over subdivision lots or condominium units made by developers without prior HLURB/HSAC approval. HSAC also has jurisdiction over rescission of purchases of memorial park lots.
An employee's claim for damages based on quasi-delict against the employer is under regular-court jurisdiction. The rule of thumb is the rule on reference to labor laws. If the dispute can be resolved without reference to labor laws, the matter is under regular-court jurisdiction.
Under barangay conciliation laws, the actual residence requirement refers to the real party-in-interest. The residence of the attorney-in-fact not important.
All parties to a barangay conciliation proceeding must be residents of the same city or municipality. However, parties residing in different cities or municipalities but in adjoining barangays may agree to submit their dispute in barangay conciliation proceedings.
The parties may go directly to court even without prior referral to barangay conciliation in the following instances: (1) where the accused is under detention; (2) where a person has otherwise been deprived of personal liberty calling for habeas corpus proceedings; (3) where actions are coupled with provisional remedies such as preliminary injunction, attachment, delivery of personal property and support pendente lite; and (4) where the action may otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations.
In an action to annul a real estate mortgage agreement, whether it is capable of pecuniary estimation is determined by (1) foreclosure and (2) registration of the certificate of sale with the registry of deeds.
A motion to dismiss due to lack of prior barangay conciliation may still be filed in cases covered by Rule 70 and the Rules of Summary Procedure. In such cases, mere suspension of the proceedings would not suffice; the proper court action is case dismissal.
Payment of docket fee is jurisdictional. If the complaint is amended, resulting in increased amount of claim, payment of docket fee on the difference is not a ground to dismiss unless there is bad faith on the part of the plaintiff. Docket fee for the increased amount shall be considered lien on the judgment award.
Interests and penalties due at the time of the filing of the complaint and claimed therein shall be added in the computation of docket fees.
Quieting of title cannot be joined with an ordinary action because the former is one covered by special rules.
Splitting of causes of action is prohibited by public policy. Therefore, contractual stipulation to this effect is void. When splitting of a cause of action is present, the proper ground for dismissal is (1) res judicata or (2) litis pendentia.
Homeowners' associations without corporate existence have no legal standing to sue. Registration with the HLURB of homeowners' associations grants them juridical personality.
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