Sweet Lines Inc, vs.

Court of Appeals
(121 SCRA 769)

Facts: Herein private respondents purchased first-class tickets from petitioner at the latter’s office in
Cebu City. They were to board M/V Sweet Grace bound for Catbalogan, Western Samar. Instead of
departing at the scheduled hour of about midnight on July 8, 1972, the vessel set sail at 3:00 am of
July 9, 1972 only to be towed back to Cebu due to engine trouble, arriving there on the same day at
about 4:00 pm. The vessel lifted anchor again on July 10, 1972 at around 8:00 am. Instead of
docking at Catbalogan (the first port of call), the vessel proceeded direct to Tacloban. Private
respondents had no recourse but to disembark and board a ferry boat to Catbalogan. Hence, the suit
for breach of contract of carriage.

Issue: Whether or not the mechanical defect constitutes a fortuitous event which would exempt the
carrier from liability.

Held: No. As found by the trial court and the Court of Appeals, there was no fortuitous event or force
majeure which prevented the vessel from fulfilling its undertaking of taking the private respondents to
Catbalogan. In the first place, mechanical defects in the carrier are not considered a caso fortuito
that exempts the carrier from responsibility. In the second place, even granting arguendo that the
engine failure was a fortuitous event, it accounted on for the delay of departure. When the vessel
finally left the port, there was no longer any force majeure that justified by-passing a port of call.