[1504]

Lawyers Cooperative Company vs. Tabora

Facts:
Perfecto Tabora bought a set of American jurisprudence and general index from company. Total
price is P1,682.40, payable on installment plan. Tabora paid P300.
It was provided in the contract that "title to and ownership of the books shall remain with the seller
until the purchase price shall have been fully paid. Loss or damage to the books after delivery to
the buyer shall be borne by the buyer."
Delivered to his law office. Same night of delivery, fire broke out. Office and library burned down.
Tabora gave company notice. Eventually, he was unable to pay.
Company commenced action in CFI Manila to recover balance of obligation.
Taboras defense: 1) force majeure, so he cant be responsible for loss 2) since it was agreed that
the title to and the ownership of the books shall remain with the seller until the purchase price shall
have been fully paid, and the books were burned or destroyed immediately after the transaction,
company should be the one to bear the loss for, as a result, the loss is always borne by the owner
CFI ruled in favor of company

Issue: Whether or not Tabora is liable for payment (YES)

Held:
On defense regarding ownership: While as a rule the loss of the object of the contract of sale is
borne by the owner or in case of force majeure the one under obligation to deliver the object is
exempt from liability, the application of that rule does not here obtain because the law on the
contract entered into on the matter argues against it. It is true that in the contract entered into
between the parties the seller agreed that the ownership of the books shall remain with it until the
purchase price shall have been fully paid, but such stipulation cannot make the seller liable in case
of loss not only because such was agreed merely to secure the performance by the buyer of his
obligation but in the very contract it was expressly agreed that the "loss or damage to the books
after delivery to the buyer shall be borne by the buyer." Any such stipulation is sanctioned by Article
1504 of our Civil Code, which in part provides: (1) Where delivery of the goods has been made to
the buyer or to a bailee for the buyer, in pursuance of the contract and the ownership in the goods
has been retained by the seller merely to secure performance by the buyer of his obligations under
the contract, the goods are at the buyer's risk from the time of such delivery.
On force majeure: rule only holds true when the obligation consists in the delivery of a determinate
thing and there is no stipulation holding him liable even in case of fortuitous event. Here these
qualifications are not present. The obligation does not refer to a determinate thing, but is pecuniary
in nature, and the obligor bound himself to assume the loss after the delivery of the goods to him.
In other words, the obligor agreed to assume any risk concerning the goods from the time of their
delivery, which is an exception to the rule provided for in Article 1262 of our Civil Code