MUÑASQUE v. CA

MUÑASQUE v. CA

G.R. No. L-39780; November 11, 1985

Ponente: J. Gutierrez. Jr

FACTS:           

Elmo Muñasque filed a complaint for payment of sum of money and damages against respondents Celestino Galan, Tropical Commercial, Co., Inc. (Tropical) and Ramon Pons, alleging that the petitioner entered into a contract with respondent Tropical through its Cebu Branch Manager Pons for remodeling a portion of its building without exchanging or expecting any consideration from Galan although the latter was casually named as partner in the contract; that by virtue of his having introduced the petitioner to the employing company (Tropical), Galan would receive some kind of compensation in the form of some percentages or commission. 

Tropical agreed to give petitioner the amount of P7,000.00 soon after the construction began and thereafter the amount of P6,000.00 every fifteen (15) days during the construction to make a total sum of P25,000.00. 

On January 9, 1967, Tropical and/or Pons delivered a check for P7,000.00 not to the plaintiff but to a stranger to the contract, Galan, who succeeded in getting petitioner's indorsement on the same check persuading the latter that the same be deposited in a joint account.
 

On January 26, 1967, when the second check for P6,000.00 was due, petitioner refused to indorse said check presented to him by Galan but through later manipulations, respondent Pons succeeded in changing the payee's name to Galan and Associates, thus enabling Galan to cash the same at the Cebu Branch of the Philippine Commercial and Industrial Bank (PCIB) placing the petitioner in great financial difficulty in his construction business and subjecting him to demands of creditors to pay for construction materials, the payment of which should have been made from the P13,000.00 received by Galan.

Due to the unauthorized disbursement by respondents Tropical and Pons of the sum of P13,000.00 to Galan, petitioner demanded that said amount be paid to him by respondents under the terms of the written contract between the petitioner and respondent company.

ISSUE:           
Whether there was a breach of trust when Tropical disbursed the money to Galan instead of Muñasque


HELD:           

No, there was no breach of trust when Tropical disbursed the money to Galan instead of Muñasque.        

The Supreme Court held that there is nothing in the records to indicate that the partnership organized by the two men was not a genuine one. A falling out or misunderstanding between the partners does not convert the partnership into a sham organization. 

In the case at bar the respondent Tropical had every reason to believe that a partnership existed between the petitioner and Galan and no fault or error can be imputed against it for making payments to "Galan and Associates" and delivering the same to Galan because as far as it was concerned, Galan was a true partner with real authority to transact on behalf of the partnership with which it was dealing.