Yujuico vs. United Resources

[ GR No.
211113, Jun 29, 2015 ] until then was still not able to file an answer of its ownfiled
with the RTC a motion for leave to file an answer. Attached to
ADERITO Z. YUJUICO v. UNITED RESOURCES ASSET the motion was a copy of URAMIs answer. On 5 September
MANAGEMENT 2006, the RTC granted URAMI's motion and allowed the
admission of its answer. Petitioner filed with the RTC a motion
for summary judgment.
Several stockholders] of STRADEC executed Pledge
Agreements[ whereby they pledged a certain amount of their On 26 January 2009, URAMI changed its counsel of record for
stocks in the said company in favor of the respondent United Civil Case No. 70027. The law firm Villlanueva, Gabionza &
Resources Asset Management, Inc. (URAMI). These pledges De Santos was thus replaced by Atty. Edward P. Chico (Atty.
were meant to secure the loan obligations of STRADEC to Chico).
URAMI under their Loan Agreement..One of the stockholders Under the counsel of Atty. Chico, URAMI filed with the
of STRADEC who so pledged his shares in STRADEC was RTC an amended answer with compulsory counterclaim
petitioner Aderito Z. Yujuico.Apparently, STRADEC had not (amended answer)[ on 23 February 2009. The amended
been able to comply with its payment obligations under the answer was meant to supplant URAMI's original answer,
Loan Agreement. which had been prepared by the VGD law firm.
On 21 June 2004, petitioner filed an injunction complaint
seeking to enjoin the sale at public auction mentioned in Atty. In its amended answer, URAMI still vouched for the dismissal
Nethercott's notice. In the complaint, petitioner argued that the of the injunction complaint but reneged from its previous
planned auction sale of the stocks pledged under the Pledge admissions under the original answer. This time, URAMI
Agreements is void as the same suffers from a multitude of claimed that the 23 June 2004 auction sale was valid and that
fatal defects. it duly authorized Atty. Nethercott to initiate such sale on its
behalf.
As the RTC did not issue a temporary restraining, the public On 12 March 2009, petitioner filed with the RTC a motion to
auction of the pledged STRADEC stocks pushed through, as strike out URAMI's amended answer on the grounds that: (1) it
scheduled. In that auction, URAMI emerged as the winning was not timely filed; (2) it was filed without leave of court; and
bidder for all of the stocks pledged under the Pledge (3) its admission would prejudice petitioner's rights. In an order
Agreements.On 5 July 2004, however, the RTC issued a writ of even date, however, the RTC denied petitioner's motion and
of preliminary injunction, which effectively prevented URAMI allowed admission of URAMI's amended answer.
from appropriating the stocks it had purchased during the
auction sale. On the same day, Atty. Nethercott filed his
answer denying the material allegations of the injunction ISSUE: Whenther or not the Court of Appeals erred in
complaint. sustaining the orders of the RTC allowing URAMI to file its
amended answer
More than a year later, or on 21 April 2006, URAMIwhich
RULING: affording liberal treatment to amendments to pleadings,
especially those made before the conduct of trial.
Our rules of procedure allow a party in a civil action to amend
his pleading as a matter of right, so long as the pleading is
amended only once and before a responsive pleading is
served (or, if the pleading sought to be amended is a reply,
within ten days after it is served).Otherwise, a party can only
amend his pleading upon prior leave of court.
As a matter of judicial policy, courts are impelled to treat

motions for leave to file amended pleadings with liberality.
In this case, URAMI filed its motion for leave seeking the
admission of its amended answer more than two (2) years
after it filed its original answer. Despite the considerable lapse
of time between the filing of the original answer and the motion
for leave, the RTC still granted the said motion. Such grant
was later affirmed on appeal by the Court of Appeals.
We rule in favor of allowing URAMI's amended answer.

Hence, we deny the present appeal.
Section 4 of Rule 129 of the Rules of Court does not set the
be-all and end-all standard upon which amendments to
pleadings may or may not be allowed. Matters involving the
amendment of pleadings are primarily governed by the
pertinent provisions of Rule 10 and not by Section 4 of Rule
129 of the Rule of Court. Hence, allegations (and admissions)
in a pleadingeven if not shown to be made through
"palpable mistake"can still be corrected or amended
provided that the amendment is sanctioned under Rule 10 of
the Rules of Court.
All in all, we find absolutely no cause to overrule the grant of
leave granted to URAMI to file its amended answer. The said
grant is consistent with our time-honored judicial policy of

Yujuico vs. United Resources

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Yujuico vs. United Resources

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Yujuico vs. United Resources

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

[ GR No.

As a matter of judicial policy, courts are impelled to treat

We rule in favor of allowing URAMI's amended answer.

You might also like