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MITSUI VS. CA, 287 SCRA 366 MENDOZA, J.: Facts: Petitioner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.

is a foreign corporation represented in the Philippines by its agent, Magsaysay Agencies. It entered into a contract of carriage through Meister ransport, Inc., an international freight for!arder, !ith pri"ate respondent La"ine Lounge!ear Manufacturing #orporation to transport goods of the latter fro$ Manila to Le %a"re, France. Petitioner undertoo& to deli"er the goods to France '( days fro$ initial loading. On )uly '*, +,,+, petitioner-s "essel loaded pri"ate respondent-s container "an for carriage at the said port of origin. %o!e"er, in Kaoshiung, ai!an the goods !ere not transshipped i$$ediately, !ith the result that the ship$ent arri"ed in Le %a"re only on .o"e$ber +*, +,,+. he consignee allegedly paid only half the "alue of the said goods on the ground that they did not arri"e in France until the /off season/ in that country. he re$aining half !as allegedly charged to the account of pri"ate respondent !hich in turn de$anded pay$ent fro$ petitioner through its agent. Issue: 0hether or not pri"ate respondent-s action is for /loss or da$age/ to goods shipped, !ithin the $eaning of the #arriage of 1oods by Sea Act 2#O1SA3. 4uling: .o. he suit is not for /loss or da$age/ to goods conte$plated in 56273, the 8uestion of prescription of action is go"erned not by the #O1SA but by Art. ++** of the #i"il #ode !hich pro"ides for a prescripti"e period of ten years. As defined in the #i"il #ode and as applied to Section 6273, paragraph * of the #arriage of 1oods by Sea Act, /loss/ conte$plates $erely a situation !here no deli"ery at all !as $ade by the shipper of the goods because the sa$e had perished, gone out of co$$erce, or disappeared in such a !ay that their e9istence is un&no!n or they cannot be reco"ered. here !ould be so$e $erit in appellant-s insistence that the da$ages suffered by hi$ as a result of the delay in the ship$ent of his cargo are not co"ered by the prescripti"e pro"ision of the #arriage of 1oods by Sea Act abo"e referred to, if such da$ages !ere due, not to the deterioration and decay of the goods !hile in transit, but to other causes independent of the condition of the cargo upon arri"al, li&e a drop in their $ar&et "alue.

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