501 Phil. 397
CHICO-NAZARIO, J.:
From the time petitioners received the assailed Order on March 21, 2000 and filed their motion for reconsideration, four (4) days had elapsed. On June 18, 2000, petitioners received the denial of their motion for reconsideration. When the instant petition was filed on August 17, 2000, a total of 63 days had elapsed.Aggrieved by the foregoing ruling, petitioners are now before us assigning the following -
A.M. No. 00-2-03-50 further amending Section 4, Rule 65 of the New Rules on Civil Procedure states that the petition shall be filed not later than sixty (60) days from notice of the judgment, Order or Resolution and in case a motion for reconsideration or new trial is timely filed, whether such motion is required or not, the 60-day period shall be counted from notice of the denial of said motion.
Viewed from its light, the assailed Orders had already attained finality, and are now beyond the power of this Court to review.[4]
MANIFEST AND/OR SERIOUS ERROR COMMITTED BY THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS IN THE COMPUTATION OF THE PERIOD WITHIN WHICH THE PETITIONERS FILED THEIR PETITION FOR CERTIORARI BEFORE IT AND CONSEQUENTLY COMMITTED GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION IN THE APPRECIATION OF FACTS AND/OR MISAPPREHENSION OF FACTS, WITH ITS FINDING OF FACT NOT BEING BORNE BY THE RECORD OR EVIDENCE, AND THUS ITS CONCLUSION IS ENTIRELY BASELESS.[5]According to petitioners, following the amendment introduced by A.M. No. 00-2-03-SC to Section 4, Rule 65 of the 1997 Rules on Civil Procedure, their petition was filed on the 60th day, thus, within the reglementary period. Respondent insists, on the other hand, that the petition was filed on the 61st day while the Court of Appeals had declared that the petition was filed on the 63rd day.
Sec. 4. Where petition filed. - The petition shall be filed not later than sixty (60) days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution sought to be assailed in the Supreme Court, or if it relates to the acts or omissions of a lower court or of a corporation, board, officer or person in the Regional Trial Court exercising jurisdiction over the territorial area as defined by the Supreme Court. It may also be filed in the Court of Appeals whether or not the same is in aid of its appellate jurisdiction, or in the Sandiganbayan if it is in aid of its jurisdiction. If it involves the acts or omissions of a quasi-judicial agency, and unless otherwise provided by law or these Rules, the petition shall be filed in and cognizable only by the Court of Appeals.However, on 01 September 2000, during the pendency of the case before the Court of Appeals, Section 4 was amended anew by A.M. No. 00-2-03-SC[6] which now provides:
If the petitioner had filed a motion for new trial or reconsideration in due time after notice of said judgment, order, or resolution, the period herein fixed shall be interrupted. If the motion is denied, the aggrieved party may file the petition within the remaining period, but which shall not be less than five (5) days in any event, reckoned from notice of such denial. No extension of time to file the petition shall be granted except for the most compelling reason and in no case to exceed fifteen (15) days. (Emphasis supplied)
Sec. 4. When and where petition filed. - The petition shall be filed not later than sixty (60) days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution. In case a motion for reconsideration or new trial is timely filed, whether such motion is required or not, the sixty (60) day period shall be counted from notice of the denial of said motion.Under this amendment, the 60-day period within which to file the petition starts to run from receipt of notice of the denial of the motion for reconsideration, if one is filed.[7]
The petition shall be filed in the Supreme Court or, if it relates to the acts or omissions of a lower court or of a corporation, board, officer or person, in the Regional Trial Court exercising jurisdiction over the territorial area as defined by the Supreme Court. It may also be filed in the Court of Appeals whether or not the same is in aid of its appellate jurisdiction, or in the Sandiganbayan if it is in aid of its appellate jurisdiction. If it involves the acts or omissions of a quasi-judicial agency, unless otherwise provided by law or these rules, the petition shall be filed in and cognizable only by the Court of Appeals.
No extension of time to file the petition shall be granted except for compelling reason and in no case exceeding fifteen (15) days. (Emphasis supplied)
WHETHER OR NOT THE PUBLIC RESPONDENT [Hon. Emilio L. Leachon, Jr., Presiding Judge, RTC, Branch 224, Quezon City] HAD PLAINLY AND MANIFESTLY ACTED WITH GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION, IN EXCESS OF JURISDICTION, TANTAMOUNT TO LACK OF JURISDICTION, IN DISMISSING THE COMPLAINT AS AGAINST RESPONDENT ANTONIO HERMANO IN CIVIL CASE NO. Q-98-34211.[12]Petitioners assert that respondent Hermano should not have been dismissed from the complaint because: (1) He did not file a motion to dismiss under Rule 16 of the Rules of Court and, in fact, his "Motion with Leave to Dismiss the Complaint or Ordered Severed for Separate Trial" was filed almost two years after he filed his Answer to the complaint; (2) There was no misjoinder of causes of action in this case; and (3) There was no misjoinder of parties.
Due to the failure and refusal, without any valid justification and reason, by defendants Zescon and Contreras to comply with their obligations under the Contract to Sell, including their failure and refusal to pay the sums stipulated therein, and in misleading and misrepresenting the plaintiffs into mortgaging their properties to defendant Antonio Hermano, who in turn had not paid the plaintiffs the proceeds thereof, putting them in imminent danger of losing the same, plaintiffs had suffered, and continue to suffer, sleepless nights ....In his Answer with (Compulsory) Counterclaim dated 15 May 1998, respondent Hermano denied petitioners' allegations.[14] Then, on 19 February 1999, respondent Hermano filed a civil case entitled "Judicial Foreclosure of Real Estate Mortgage" against petitioner Aviso docketed as Civil Case No. Q-99-36914 and raffled to Branch 216 of the RTC of Quezon City. On 17 January 2000, respondent Hermano filed a "Motion With Leave To Dismiss The Complaint Against Defendant Antonio Hermano, Or Ordered Severed For Separate Trial" before Branch 224. In said motion, respondent Hermano argued that there was a mis-joinder of causes of action under Rule 2, Section 6 of the Rules of Court. To quote respondent Hermano:
By reason of defendants Zescon and Contreras's failure and refusal to pay the sums stipulated in the Contract to Sell, and of defendant Antonio Hermano's not having paid plaintiffs the proceeds of the mortgage agreements, plaintiffs had been deprived of the beneficial use of the proceeds and stood to lose, as they continue to lose, by way of unearned profits at least P1,000,000.00.[13]
Over petitioners' opposition to said motion, the same was granted by the trial court in its Order dated 28 February 2000 on the justification that:
- In the instant case, the plaintiffs' action for the Enforcement of Contract and Damages with Prayer for The Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order And/Or Preliminary Injunction against Zescon Land, Inc., and/or its President Zenie Sales Contreras, may not, under Rule 2, Section 6 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, join defendant Hermano as party defendant to annul and/or rescind the Real Estate Mortgages of subject properties. There is a misjoinder of parties defendants under a different transaction or cause of action; that under the said Rule 2, Section 6, upon motion of defendant Hermano in the instant case, the complaint against defendant Hermano can be severed and tried separately; . . . .[15]
. . . [D]efendant having filed a special civil action for judicial foreclosure of mortgage and now pending before RTC Branch 216, he should be dropped as one of the defendants in this case and whatever claims plaintiffs may have against defendant Hermano, they can set it up by way of an answer to said judicial foreclosure.[16]And, in an Order dated 25 May 2000, the trial court resolved petitioners' motion for reconsideration by dismissing the same, to wit:
After going over the arguments of the parties, the Court believes that defendant Hermano has nothing to do with the transaction which the plaintiffs entered into with defendant Zescon Land, Inc. Besides, the said motion raised matters and defenses previously considered and passed upon by the Court.[17]It is these two Orders that were brought up by petitioners to the Court of Appeals on petition for Certiorari under Rule 65. The pivotal issue to be resolved, therefore, is whether or not respondent trial court committed grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the complaint against respondent Hermano in Civil Case No. Q-98-34211.
By a joinder of actions, or more properly, a joinder of causes of action, is meant the uniting of two or more demands or rights of action in one action; the statement of more than one cause of action in a declaration. It is the union of two or more civil causes of action, each of which could be made the basis of a separate suit, in the same complaint, declaration or petition. A plaintiff may under certain circumstances join several distinct demands, controversies or rights of action in one declaration, complaint or petition.Section 6, Rule 2 on misjoinder of causes of action provides:
As can easily be inferred from the above definitions, a party is generally not required to join in one suit several distinct causes of action. The joinder of separate causes of action, where allowable, is permissive and not mandatory in the absence of a contrary statutory provision, even though the causes of action arose from the same factual setting and might under applicable joinder rules be joined. Modern statutes and rules governing joinders are intended to avoid a multiplicity of suits and to promote the efficient administration of justice wherever this may be done without prejudice to the rights of the litigants. To achieve these ends, they are liberally construed.
While joinder of causes of action is largely left to the option of a party litigant, Section 5, Rule 2 of our present Rules allows causes of action to be joined in one complaint conditioned upon the following requisites: (a) it will not violate the rules on jurisdiction, venue and joinder of parties; and (b) the causes of action arise out of the same contract, transaction or relation between the parties, or are for demands for money or are of the same nature and character.
The objectives of the rule or provision are to avoid a multiplicity of suits where the same parties and subject matter are to be dealt with by effecting in one action a complete determination of all matters in controversy and litigation between the parties involving one subject matter, and to expedite the disposition of litigation at minimum cost. The provision should be construed so as to avoid such multiplicity, where possible, without prejudice to the rights of the litigants. Being of a remedial nature, the provision should be liberally construed, to the end that related controversies between the same parties may be adjudicated at one time; and it should be made effectual as far as practicable, with the end in view of promoting the efficient administration of justice.
The statutory intent behind the provisions on joinder of causes of action is to encourage joinder of actions which could reasonably be said to involve kindred rights and wrongs, although the courts have not succeeded in giving a standard definition of the terms used or in developing a rule of universal application. The dominant idea is to permit joinder of causes of action, legal or equitable, where there is some substantial unity between them. While the rule allows a plaintiff to join as many separate claims as he may have, there should nevertheless be some unity in the problem presented and a common question of law and fact involved, subject always to the restriction thereon regarding jurisdiction, venue and joinder of parties. Unlimited joinder is not authorized.
Our rule on permissive joinder of causes of action, with the proviso subjecting it to the correlative rules on jurisdiction, venue and joinder of parties and requiring a conceptual unity in the problems presented, effectively disallows unlimited joinder.
Sec. 6. Misjoinder of causes of action. - Misjoinder of causes of action is not a ground for dismissal of an action. A misjoined cause of action may, on motion of a party or on the initiative of the court, be severed and proceeded with separately.There is misjoinder of causes of action when the conditions for joinder under Section 5, Rule 2 are not met. Section 5 provides:
Sec. 5. Joinder of causes of action. - A party may in one pleading assert, in the alternative or otherwise, as many causes of action as he may have against an opposing party, subject to the following conditions:As far as can be gathered from the assailed Orders, it is the first condition - on joinder of parties - that the trial court deemed to be lacking. It is well to remember that the joinder of causes of action may involve the same parties or different parties. If the joinder involves different parties, as in this case, there must be a question of fact or of law common to both parties joined, arising out of the same transaction or series of transaction.[19]
(a) The party joining the causes of action shall comply with the rules on joinder of parties; (b) The joinder shall not include special civil actions or actions governed by special rules; (c) Where the causes of action are between the same parties but pertain to different venues or jurisdictions, the joinder may be allowed in the Regional Trial Court provided one of the causes of action falls within the jurisdiction of said court and the venue lies therein; and (d) Where the claims in all the causes of action are principally for recovery of money, the aggregate amount claimed shall be the test of jurisdiction.