Week 7

A. Discuss the requisites of employer’s liability under Article 2180.

1. Employer-employee relationship between the person sought to be made vicariously liable

and the negligent employee.
2. Liability for quasi-delict of the employee.
 The offended party must establish fault or negligence on the part of the employee
which was the proximate cause of the offended party’s damage or loss. The
liability of the employee must be independently established.
3. Performance by the employee of the task assigned by the employer or the latter’s
authorized representative or employee when damage or injury was inflicted through fault
or negligence was committed.
B. Discuss the vicarious liability of owners and managers
Owner and managers shall be held vicariously liable for the tort committed by his employees
when the latter committed such tortious act in the service of the branches or on the occasion of
their functions, or in short, during their working hours.
C. What is the nature of an employer’s liability under Article 2180?
The nature of an employer’s liability under Article 2180 is DIRECT OR INTERMEDIATE –
it is not conditioned on a prior recourse against the negligent employee or a prior showing of
insolvency of such employee. It is also joint and solidary with the employee.
Nature of liability. — The liability of the employer is primary and solidary with the employee
although the former can recover from the latter whatever it pays to the plaintiff. (Art. 2181.) This
direct responsibility is more likely to facilitate the remedy for civil wrongs. (Barredo vs. Garcia,
73 Phil. 607 [1942]; De Leon Brokerage vs. Court of Appeals, 4 SCRA 517 [1962].)
D. Distinguish between primary and subsidiary liability of employers.
FOR CIVIL ACTION FOR DAMAGES BASED ON QUASI- DELICT – the liability of the
employer is primary, direct and solidary provided that one succeeds in proving the negligence
of the employee. It is not conditioned on the insolvency of the employee. The responsibility of
employers for the negligence of their employees in the performance of their duties is primary,
that is, the injured party may recover from the employer directly, regardless of the solvency of
their employees.

FOR CRIMINAL CASE – the civil liability of the employer is subsidiary. The employer
cannot use as defense the exercise of the diligence of a good father of a family.

E. May an employer who is made liable solidarily may seek reimbursement from the
employee?
Should the employer be held liable solidarily for the damages caused by the tortious acts of his
employee, he may seek reimbursement from the latter for the amount he paid to the
offended party for the satisfaction of the claim. Art. 2181

Right to Reimbursement. — The persons enumerated in Article 2180 are given the right to seek
reimbursement from the former for “what he has paid or delivered in satisfaction of the
claim’’ of the plaintiff. The rule is just because the one at fault should answer for the damage
caused by him.

F. When is the State liable?

The state is only liable for the negligent acts of its officers, agents, and employees when they
are acting as special agents. The State has voluntarily assumed liability for acts done through
special agents.

 The State’s agent, if a public official, must not only be especially commissioned to do a
particular task but that such task must be foreign to said official’s usual governmental functions.
If the State’s agent is not a public official, and is commissioned to perform non-governmental
functions, then the State assumes the role of an ordinary employer and will be liable as such for
its agent’s tort. Where the government commissions a private individual for a special
governmental task, it is acting through a special agent within the meaning of the provision.
Where the act complained of is one performed in the discharge of the official duties of a public
officer, the State is not liable.

G. What are the aspects of liability of the State?

 Public or governmental – where the State is liable only for tortious acts of its
special agents
 Private or non-governmental – when the state is engaged in private business or
enterprises, it becomes liable as an ordinary employer
 The state may designate a public officer as a special agent to perform
governmental work, in which event it issues liability for the tortious acts of the
office that are done in the pursuit of his assignment. If the public officer
committed tortious acts related to a special assignment, he alone is responsible.

The State may act as a government entity (public aspect) exercising governmental functions,
where it is liable only for the acts of its special agents; or in a corporate capacity (private or
business aspect), as when it engages in some private enterprises, where it may be held liable just
as any other employer for the acts of its employees. The State assumes a limited liability for the
damage caused by the tortious acts or conduct of its special agents.

H. What is the rationale for the liability of the school heads and teachers?

The rationale of such liability of school heads and teachers for the tortious acts of their pupils
and students, so long as they remain in their custody, is that they stand, to a certain extent, as to
their pupils and students, in loco parentis and are called upon to "exercise reasonable supervision
over the conduct of the child.
I. What is the available defense for a person being held liable under Article 2180?

The last paragraph of Article 2180 shall be the available defense for a person being held liable
wherein he must prove that he exercised due diligence of a good father of a family (bonus pater
familias) in the selection and supervision of its employees. In the selection of prospective
employees, employers are required to examine them as to their qualifications, experience and
service records. With respect to the supervision of employees, employers must formulate
standard operating procedures, monitor their implementation and impose disciplinary measures
for breaches thereof.