E. MERRITT, plaintiff-appellant, vs.

GOVERNMENT OF
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, defendant-appellant.

Facts: Petitioner was involved in an accident caused by the negligence of a chauffeur of the
ambulance of a state hospital. Due to such, petitioner’s work at the present and earning
capacity was impaired greatly. In order to fix the responsibility for the accident and
determine the extent of damages he may recover, the legislature enacted a law allowing
Petitioner to sue the state. The CFI decided in petitioner’s favor, finding the chauffer at fault
and imposing liability on the state but ordered a lesser amount than what he prayed for
prompting him to appeal up to the Supreme Court.

Issue: Is the State legally liable to the plaintiff by allowing a lawsuit to commence against it?

Ruling:
No. The state cannot be held liable for the negligence of its employees because the
government is modeled after the US government and therefore enjoys similar immunity as
such that unauthorized or negligent acts of its officers cannot be held against it such as in this
case. The only exception to this rule is embedded in paragraph 5 of Article 1903 of the
Civil Code which states that the state is liable only when it acts through a special agent
who in turn caused damage through negligence but if such special agent caused damage
in the performance of duty, there can be no claim of liability against the state. A special
agent is one who receives a definite and fixed order or commission, foreign to the exercise of
the duties of his office if he is a special official which is not the case of the chauffeur. This
does not apply to an employee of the active administration, who in his own responsibility,
performs the functions which are inherent in and naturally pertain to his office and which are
regulated by law such as what happened in this case. The chauffer, although was found
negligent, is not a special agent of the state.

Anent its waiver of immunity from suits through legislative enactment, such waiver does
not extend to liability. The state only succumbs to the jurisdiction of the court but does
not concede its liability and reserves its rights to interpose lawful defenses. The only
exception to this rule is when such legislative act expressly states the acceptance of any
liability that can be imposed against it which not present in the law allowing petitioner to sue
the state. The law allowing petitioner only states that he is given the chance to sue the state
without any pronouncement on the acceptance of liability. Therefore, the state cannot be held
liable.