file:crimpro_part1_iiia.htm

4.   Prosecution of Civil Action

1. Basic Rule

 Rules of
Court, Rule 111

Institution of criminal
and civil actions. –

(a) When a criminal
action is instituted, the civil action for the recovery of civil liability
arising from the offense charged shall be deemed instituted with the criminal
action unless the offended party waives the civil action, reserves the right to
institute it separately or institutes the civil action prior to the criminal
action.

The reservation of
the right to institute separately the civil action shall be made before the
prosecution starts presenting its evidence and under circumstances affording the
offended party a reasonable opportunity to make such reservation.

When the offended
party seeks to enforce civil liability against the accused by way of moral,
nominal, temperate, or exemplary damages without specifying the amount thereof
in the complaint or information, the filing fees therefore shall constitute a
first lien on the judgment awarding such damages.

Where the amount of
damages, other than actual, is specified in the complaint or information, the
corresponding filing fees shall be paid by the offended party upon the filing
thereof in court.

Except as otherwise
provided in these Rules, no filing fees shall be required for actual damages.

No counterclaim,
cross-claim or third-party complaint may be filed by the accused in the
criminal case, but any cause of action which could have been the subject
thereof may be litigated in a separate civil action.

(b) The criminal
action for violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 shall be deemed to include the
corresponding civil action. No reservation to file such civil action separately
shall be allowed.

Upon filing of the
aforesaid joint criminal and civil actions, the offended party shall pay in
full the filing fees based on the amount of the check involved, which shall be
considered as the actual damages claimed. Where the complaint or information
also seeks to recover liquidated, moral, nominal, temperate or exemplary
damages, the offended party shall pay additional filing fees based on the
amounts alleged therein. If the amounts are not so alleged but any of these
damages are subsequently awarded by the court, the filing fees based on
the amount awarded shall constitute a first lien on the judgment.

Where the civil
action has been filed separately and trial thereof has not yet commenced, it
may be consolidated with the criminal action upon application with the court
trying the latter case. If the application is granted, the trial of both
actions shall proceed in accordance with in section 2 of this Rule governing
consolidation of the civil and criminal actions.

The 2000 Rules on Criminal Procedure deems as instituted with the criminal
action only the civil liability arising from the offense charged. The civil
liability is deemed instituted – not merely ‘impliedly’ instituted – with the
institution of the criminal action. The independent civil actions under
Articles 32, 333, 34 and 2176 of the Civil Code are no longer deemed or
impliedly instituted with the criminal action or considered as waived even if
there is no reservation. The reservation applies only to the civil liability
arising from the offense charged. The employer may no longer be held civilly
liable for quasi-delict in the criminal action as ruled in Maniago v.
Court of Appeals,99
San Ildefonso Lines, Inc. v. Court of Appeals100
and all other similar cases, since quasi-delict is not deemed instituted
with the criminal. If at all, the only civil liability of the employer in the
criminal action would be his/her subsidiary liability under the Revised Penal
Code. The rule has also done away with third party complaints and counterclaims
in criminal actions. Third-party complaints and counterclaims in criminal
actions have to be ventilated in a separate civil action.

2.  Civil Actions Not Based on Crime Not
Extinguished

Acquittal in a criminal action bars the civil action arising therefrom where
the judgment of acquittal holds that the accused did not commit the criminal
acts imputed to him.101

The civil liability that is deemed extinguished is the civil liability based
on crime. But not the civil liability based on sources of obligation other than
the criminal offense although arising from the same act or omission. Article 29
of the Civil Code expressly provides that when the accused in a criminal
prosecution is acquitted on the ground that his/her guilt has not been proved
beyond reasonable doubt, a civil action for damages for the same act or
omission may be instituted. Such action requires only a preponderance of
evidence.

The civil liability therefor under Articles 32, 33 34 and 2176 of the Civil
Code or those where the source of civil obligation is not based on the criminal
offense is not affected by the result of the criminal action.

In other words, the extinction of the civil liability referred to in par.
(e) of Section 3, Rule 111, (1964 Rules) refers exclusively to the civil
liability founded on Article 100 of the Revised Penal Code whereas the civil
liability for the same act considered as a quasi-delict only and not as a crime
is not extinguished even by a declaration in the criminal case that the
criminal act charged has not happened or has not been committed by the
accused. Briefly stated, culpa aquiliana includes voluntary and negligent
acts which may be punishable by law. It results, therefore, that the acquittal
of Reginald Hill in the criminal case has not extinguished his/her liability
for quasi-delict, hence that acquittal is not a bar to the instant
action against him.102

The only civil liability that may thus be imposed in a criminal action is
that arising from and consequent to the criminal liability of the accused on
the principle that every person criminally liable is also civilly liable.103 This includes restitution, reparation
of damages caused and indemnification of consequential damages.104 Complementary thereto, are the
subsidiary civil liability of innkeepers, tavern keepers and proprietor of
establishments,105 employers, teachers,
persons and corporations engaged in any kind of industry, for felonies
committed by their servants, pupils, workmen, apprentices, employees in the
discharge of their duties.106

3. Criminal Actions To Recover Civil Liability
Arising From Delict and Civil Actions Based on Quasi-Delict May Proceed
Simultaneously

A separate civil action for damages lies against the offender in a criminal
act, whether or not he is criminally prosecuted and found guilty or acquitted,
provided that the offended party is not allowed, if he is actually charged also
criminally, to recover damages on both sides, and would be entitled in such
eventuality only to the bigger award of the two, assuming the awards made in
the two cases vary.107

4. Extinction Of The Penal Does Not Carry With
It Extinction Of The Civil

But while every person criminally liable is also civilly liable, the
converse is not true. Extinction of the penal does not carry with it extinction
of the civil unless the extinction proceeds from a declaration in a final
judgment that the fact from which the civil might arise did not exist.108 Similarly, a final judgment rendered in
a civil action absolving the defendant from the civil liability is no bar to a
criminal action109 unless the civil
action is a prejudicial question which involves an issue similar or intimately
related to the issue raised in the criminal, the resolution of which determines
whether or not the criminal action may proceed.110