SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 254226. February 1, 2021.]
SPOUSES JONATHAN FLORES AND GLENDA FLORES, petitioners,vs. RODOLFO E. MINAS, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated 01 February 2021which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 254226 (Spouses Jonathan Flores and Glenda Flores v. Rodolfo E. Minas). — This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 assailing the Court of Appeals' (CA) Decision 2 dated June 14, 2019 in CA-G.R. CV No. 110726 which affirmed the Regional Trial Court's (RTC) Judgment 3 dated September 14, 2017 dismissing the complaint for breach of contract and damages.
Considering the allegations, issues, and arguments adduced in the Petition for Review on Certiorari, this Court finds no cogent reason to deviate from the CA and the RTC's findings that the special power of attorney and the contract of sale are void absent the respondent's consent.
However, we delete the award of moral damages and attorney's fees. The CA and the RTC concluded that the petitioners are liable for moral damages because they acted in bad faith in entering into a void transaction. Yet, bad faith does not simply mean bad judgment or negligence. Rather, bad faith imparts a dishonest purpose or some moral obliquity and conscious doing of wrong. 4 Here, petitioners strongly believed that respondent's son was authorized to sell the vehicle. Otherwise, petitioners would not have parted with their hard-earned money. Moreover, petitioners relied in good faith on the special power of attorney that respondent's son presented before the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). Similarly, attorney's fees may only be awarded upon proof of bad faith. In this case, there was no evidence that petitioners were motivated with malice in filing the complaint. At any rate, it is settled that attorney's fees cannot be recovered as part of damages because of the policy that no premium should be placed on the right to litigate. 5
FOR THESE REASONS, the petition is DENIED. The Court of Appeals' Decision dated June 14, 2019 in CA-G.R. CV No. 110726 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATIONS in that the award for moral damages and attorney's fees are DELETED.
SO ORDERED."
By authority of the Court:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 9-25.
2.Id. at 107-114; penned by Associate Justice Edwin D. Sorongon, with the concurrence of Chairperson Sesinando E. Villon and Junior Member Germano Francisco D. Legaspi.
3.Id. at 47-60; penned by Judge Richard A. Paradeza.
4.National Food Authority v. CA, 370 Phil. 735, 750 (1999).
5.Sian v. Spouses Somoso, G.R. No. 201812, January 22, 2020.