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Spouses Quisimbing Vs Meralco Case Digest

The spouses Quisimbing owned a home that was inspected by Meralco inspectors who discovered the electric meter had been tampered with. The inspectors advised the spouses that the meter would need to be verified in a lab and if tampering was confirmed, electric service would be temporarily disconnected until payment was made. After an hour, the inspectors returned and informed the spouses the meter was tampered and service would be cut unless payment of P178,785.01 was made. However, later that day service was reconnected. The spouses filed a complaint for damages. The Supreme Court ordered Meralco to pay moral and exemplary damages to the spouses for the rights violation, but reduced the

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162 views1 page

Spouses Quisimbing Vs Meralco Case Digest

The spouses Quisimbing owned a home that was inspected by Meralco inspectors who discovered the electric meter had been tampered with. The inspectors advised the spouses that the meter would need to be verified in a lab and if tampering was confirmed, electric service would be temporarily disconnected until payment was made. After an hour, the inspectors returned and informed the spouses the meter was tampered and service would be cut unless payment of P178,785.01 was made. However, later that day service was reconnected. The spouses filed a complaint for damages. The Supreme Court ordered Meralco to pay moral and exemplary damages to the spouses for the rights violation, but reduced the

Uploaded by

Crmnmarie
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© © 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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Spouses Quisimbing vs Meralco

FACTS:
House no. 94 of Block 8, Lot 19 Greenmeadows Avenue, Quezon City is owned by
plantiff-appellees spouses Antonio and Lorna Quisimbing. On March 3, 1995 at around 9
am, defendant-appellants inspectors headed by Emmanuel C. Orlino were assigned to
conduct a routine-on-the-spot inspection of all single-phase meters at Greenmeadows.
The said house was inspected after observing a standard operating procedure of asking
permission from the spouses Quisimbing, through their secretary, which was granted. The
secretary witnessed the inspection. The inspectors discovered that the (1) terminal seal
was missing; (2) the meter cover seal was deformed; (3) the meter dials of the meter was
mis-aligned and (4) there were scratches on the meter base plate. The secretary relayed
the information to Lorna Quisimbing who was outraged of the result of the inspection and
denied liability as to the tampering of the meter.
The inspectors advised that the meter be brought to laboratory for verifications of the
findings and in the event the meter turned out to be tampered, defendant-appellant had to
temporarily disconnect its electric services. After an hour, inspectors returned and
informed the owners that the meter had been tampered and unless they pay the amount of
P178,785.01 representing the differential billing, their electric supply would be
disconnected. However on the same day, Orlino, instructed by his officer, reconnected the
electric service. The plaintiff-appellee filed complaint for damages with a prayer for the
issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction despite the immediate reconnection.
ISSUE: WON such disconnection entitled petitioners to damages
HELD:
Supreme Court ordered to pay petitioners moral and exemplary damages including
attorneys fees but it must be noted that the petitioners must pay respondent the billing
differential. Moral damages may be recovered when rights of individuals including right
against the deprivation of property without due process of law are violated. Moral
damages are granted but reduced to the more equitable amount of P100,000 since the
respondent was able to restore the electrical supply of petitioners on the same day. Thus,
inconvenience and anxiety they suffered as a result of the disconnection was thereafter
corrected. Exemplary damages are imposed by way of example or correction for the
public good and must serve as a negative incentive to socially deleterious actions. In this
case, before a disconnection of electrical supply can be effected by public utility like
Meralco, the requisite of the law must be faithfully complied with- we award P50,000 to
the petitioners.

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