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Article 2176 of the Civil Code provides that whoever by act or omission
causes damage to another, there being fault or negligence, is obliged to pay
for the damage done. Such fault or negligence, if there is no pre-existing
contractual relations between the parties, is called a quasi-delict. To sustain
a claim based on quasi-delict, the following requisites must concur: (a)
damage suffered by the plaintiff; (b) fault or negligence of defendant; and (c)
connection of cause and effect between the fault or negligence of defendant
and the damage incurred by the plaintiff 4. Applying the provision in the
present case, although it can be said that there is no pre-existing contract
between the parties, the liability may itself be deemed to arise from quasidelict because there being fault on the part of Imperial Bucket Corporation to
provide the necessary consumer product safety for its consumers. Thus, there
2 Article 1171 and 1172, Civil Code
3 Article 1170, Civil Code
4 Dy Teban Trading, Inc. v. Ching, G.R. No. 161803, 4 February 2008, 543
SCRA 560
is no dispute that Jack Doe and Jill Doe suffered damages because of the
callously manufactured pail.
Under American law, the liabilities of a manufacturer or seller of injurycausing products may be based on negligence 5, breach of warranty6, tort7, or
other grounds such as fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation 8. Quasi-delict, as
defined in Article 2176 of the Civil Code, (which is known in Spanish legal
treaties as culpa aquiliana, culpa extra-contractual or cuasi-delitos 9) is
homologous but not identical to tort under the common law. 10