RICHARD A. KLEPPER, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. AMERICAN PRESIDENT LINES, LTD., ET AL., DEFENDANTS, AMERICAN PRESIDENT LINES, LTD., DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

On November 5, 1957, the Court of First Instance of Manila in Civil
Case No. 28826 rendered a decision the dispositive portion of which
reads:

“IN VIEW OF ALL THE FOREGOING, judgment is hereby rendered in favor
of the plaintiff Richard A. Klepper, ordering the defendant, American
President Lines, Ltd., to pay said plaintiff the sum of P6.729 60,
value of the goods damaged, plus P500.00 as their sentimental value,
with legal interest from the date of the filing of the complaint until
fully paid, and the further sum of P1,000 00 as attorney’s fees. Once
this judgment is satisfied, defendant Delgado Bros. Inc. is also
ordered to pay to defendant American President Lines, Ltd., the same
amounts. Delgado Bros. Inc., is likewise ordered to pay the costs.”

This decision was appealed to the Court of Appeals, which in due
time affirmed it in toto. Again, the case was taken to this Court on a
petition for review, and on November 29, 1960, the latter affirmed the
decision of the court a quo, as affirmed by the Court of Appeals, with
slight modification as follows:

“WHEREFORE, with the modification that petitioner shipping company
should only pay to respondent the sum of $500.00 as value of the goods
damaged, the decision appealed from should be affirmed in all other
respects, without pronouncement as to costs.”

Our decision having become final, the case was remanded to the court
of origin, but instead cf waiting for the execution of the judgment
counsel for defendants made a tender of payment to the plaintiff of
P1.000.00 stating that it was in full satisfaction of the judgment
which limits their liability to $500.00. When this tender was refused,
defendants deposited the money with the clerk of court, and moved the
court for an entry of satisfaction of judgment. This was opposed by the
plaintiff. Thereafter, the court a quo issued an order the dispositive
portion of which reads:

“WHEREFORE, in addition to the sum of P1,000.00 deposited by the
defendant, American President Lines, Ltd., it should also deposit with
this Court the interest on said amount at the legal rate from the date
of the filing of the complaint until fully paid, and the farther sum of
P1,000.00 as attorney’s fees, in conformity with the judgment of this
Court confirmed by the Court of Appeals and in part by the Supreme
Court. No costs should be awarded inasmuch as the Supreme Court has
stated in its judgment ‘without pronouncement as to costs”

Dissatisfied with this order, defendants took the present appeal.

The main thesis of appellants is that since the main question
involved in their appeal was whether the carrier’s liability should be
limited to $500.00, and this Court has upheld the affirmative
contention of appellants, to interpret our decision to mean that the
carrier can be liable for more than $500.00 by imposing thereon
interest and attorney’s fees as was done by the lower court, would be
to nullify our holding on the very crux of the case—the limitation of
$500.00.

But this contention overlooks one important factor, that in our
decision we did not merely limit the liability of defendants to
$500.00, but went further to state that “the decision appealed from
should be affirmed in all other respects.” In other words, while we
ruled that the liability of defendants insofar as the value of the
goods damaged is concerned should not go beyond $500.00, we likewise
ruled that the other portion of the decision should stand, and this
concerns the interest that defendants were ordered to pay on the amount
adjudicated, as well as the attorney’s fees. This portion of the
judgment was affirmed, and hence it should be enforced. We find no
error in the order appealed from.

WHEREFORE, the order appealed from is affirmed. No costs.

Bengzon, C. J., Padilla, Concepcion, Reyes, J. B. L., Paredes, Regala, and Makalintal, JJ., concur.