PANTALEON VS AMERICAN EXPRESS

Posted by kaye lee on 11:30 PM

G.R. No. 174269, May 8 2009 [Credit Transaction]
FACTS:
After the Amsterdam incident that happened involving the delay of American
Express Card to approve his credit card purchases worth US$13,826.00 at the
Coster store, Pantaleon commenced a complaint for moral and exemplary damages
before the RTC against American Express. He said that he and his family
experienced inconvenience and humiliation due to the delays in credit
authorization. RTC rendered a decision in favor of Pantaleon. CA reversed the award
of damages in favor of Pantaleon, holding that AmEx had not breached its
obligations to Pantaleon, as the purchase at Coster deviated from Pantaleon's
established charge purchase pattern.
ISSUE:
1. Whether or not AmEx had committed a breach of its obligations to Pantaleon.
2. Whether or not AmEx is liable for damages.
RULING:
1. Yes. The popular notion that credit card purchases are approved within seconds,
there really is no strict, legally determinative point of demarcation on how long
must it take for a credit card company to approve or disapprove a customers
purchase, much less one specifically contracted upon by the parties. One hour
appears to be patently unreasonable length of time to approve or disapprove a
credit card purchase.
The culpable failure of AmEx herein is not the failure to timely approve petitioners
purchase, but the more elemental failure to timely act on the same, whether
favorably or unfavorably. Even assuming that AmExs credit authorizers did not
have sufficient basis on hand to make a judgment, we see no reason why it could
not have promptly informed Pantaleon the reason for the delay, and duly advised
him
that
resolving
the
same
could
take
some
time.
2. Yes. The reason why Pantaleon is entitled to damages is not simply because
AmEx incurred delay, but because the delay, for which culpability lies under Article
1170, led to the particular injuries under Article 2217 of the Civil Code for which
moral damages are remunerative. The somewhat unusual attending circumstances
to the purchase at Coster that there was a deadline for the completion of that
purchase by petitioner before any delay would redound to the injury of his several
traveling companions gave rise to the moral shock, mental anguish, serious
anxiety, wounded feelings and social humiliation sustained by Pantaleon, as
concluded by the RTC.