EN BANC
[G.R. No. L-5189. September 21, 1953. ]
GAUDENCIO SERRANO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DONATA CABRERA and TEODATO MAKABULOS, Defendants-Appellees.
Jose P. Fausto for Appellant.
Besa & Besa for Appellees.
SYLLABUS
1. PLEADING AND PRACTICE; DISMISSAL OF ACTIONS; WHEN DISMISSAL IS WITHOUT PREJUDICE. — A dismissal of the action without order of the court, which is without prejudice, is one by the plaintiff before the filing of an answer by the defendant. It means that such dismissal would not preclude the plaintiff from bringing another action against the same defendant on the same subject matter. Such dismissal under the rule does not bar the institution of an action by the defendant which he could have brought in the action against him by means of a counter-claim or cross-claim. But where the dismissal in the first case was upon motion of the plaintiff consented to by the defendant on the ground that the latter had paid and satisfied all the claims of the former as prayed for in her complaint, section 1 of Rule 30 cannot be invoked in the case as the dismissal was not without prejudice.
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; JUDGMENTS; COMPROMISE; "RES JUDICATA; SOLUTIO INDEBITI." — If what was received by the plaintiff and delivered by the defendant was the result of a compromise, the case was not one of solutio indebiti. "A compromise shall have, with respect to the parties, the same authority as res adjudicata . . ." (Art. 1316, Civil Code.)
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; JUDGMENTS; COMPROMISE; "RES JUDICATA; SOLUTIO INDEBITI." — If what was received by the plaintiff and delivered by the defendant was the result of a compromise, the case was not one of solutio indebiti. "A compromise shall have, with respect to the parties, the same authority as res adjudicata . . ." (Art. 1316, Civil Code.)
D E C I S I O N
PADILLA, J.:
Gaudencio Serrano was the lessee of a parcel of land containing an area of 24 hectares, more or less, situated in the municipality of La Paz, Province of Tarlac. Donata Cabrera was the lessor, having inherited the parcel of land from her deceased father Eusebio Cabrera, the original lessor. Teodato Makabulos is her husband. The term of the lease was six agricultural years beginning 1 May 1941 and the yearly rental agreed upon was 290 cavans of palay. On 13 December 1946, the lessor brought an action (civil case No. 141 of the Court of First Instance of Tarlac) to recover rentals due and unpaid for the agricultural years 1943-44, 1944-45, 1945-46 and 1946-47 amounting to P13,620. A writ of attachment was issued in that case. On 18 December, the complaint was dismissed without costs upon a motion couched in the following terms—
MOCION DE SOBRESEIMIENTO
Comparece la demandante por su infrascrito Abogado y al Hon. Juzgado respetuosamente pide:chanrob1es virtual 1aw library
Que en vista de que el demandado Gaudencio Serrano ha pagado y satisfecho por completo las reclamaciones de la demandante seg
MOCION DE SOBRESEIMIENTO
Comparece la demandante por su infrascrito Abogado y al Hon. Juzgado respetuosamente pide:chanrob1es virtual 1aw library
Que en vista de que el demandado Gaudencio Serrano ha pagado y satisfecho por completo las reclamaciones de la demandante seg
