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Property Damage Liability Case

De Jesus et al sued Homart Corporation and Howmill Manufacturing Corporation for damages caused to their building during construction of the defendants' adjacent 60-story building. The plaintiffs alleged their building sank in parts and walls/ceilings cracked due to lack of lateral and subjacent support during construction. While the defendants claimed they took necessary precautions, the court held they violated the Civil Code by depriving the plaintiffs' building of sufficient support, as evidenced by it sinking 8 inches towards the defendants' building. The defendants were found liable for damages caused by their failure to properly support the plaintiffs' property during construction.

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Micho Diez
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1K views1 page

Property Damage Liability Case

De Jesus et al sued Homart Corporation and Howmill Manufacturing Corporation for damages caused to their building during construction of the defendants' adjacent 60-story building. The plaintiffs alleged their building sank in parts and walls/ceilings cracked due to lack of lateral and subjacent support during construction. While the defendants claimed they took necessary precautions, the court held they violated the Civil Code by depriving the plaintiffs' building of sufficient support, as evidenced by it sinking 8 inches towards the defendants' building. The defendants were found liable for damages caused by their failure to properly support the plaintiffs' property during construction.

Uploaded by

Micho Diez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DE JESUS ET AL VS HOWMART ET AL 12 CA REP 831

FACTS:

Jesus and Luz Miranda de Jesus are owners of the building located in Tondo,Manila.
They brought an action for damages against Homart Corporation and Howmill
Manufacturing Corporation, owners of the land adjoining the plaintiff on the same
street where a sixty storey concrete building was constructed. Plaintiffs allege that
the defendants failed to observe the necessary care and precautions to protect the
construction of the plaintiffs by depriving it of sufficient lateral or subjacent
support,thereby causing it to sink in some parts; its walls, ceilings, and floorings to
crack in some places; and by the careless manner of handling the cement used the
roofing’s of the building of the plaintiff were damaged with the accumulated debris
piled thereon.

ISSUE:

Whether or not proper precautions had been taken by the defendants in constructing
the building in question so as to prevent causing damage to the building of the
plaintiff.

HELD:

No. Article 684 of the New Civil Code provides “No property shall make such
excavations upon his land as to deprive any adjacent land or building sufficient lateral
or subjacent support”. A reading of Article 684 shows that the duty of an adjacent
owner not to deprive any adjacent land or building of sufficient lateral or subjacent
support is an absolute one. It does not depend on the degree of care and precaution
made by the proprietor in making the excavation or building on his land. Plaintiffs’
house which adjoins the seven storey concrete building constructed by the
defendants had sunk by about eight inches. The sinking of the left side of the house
of the plaintiffs was due to the weakening of subjacent support and to the weight of
the seven storey concrete building constructed by the defendant, as the excavation
made necessarily disturbed the subjacent soil of the plaintiff’s land. Defendants
having failed to provide the plaintiff’s land and house with sufficient lateral and
subjacent support are liable for damages.

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