EN BANC

G.R. No. L-29745 June 4, 1973

MERCEDES M. TEAGUE, petitioner,

vs.
ELENA FERNANDEZ, et al., respondent.

Jose W. Diokno for petitioner.

Jose G. Gatchalian for respondents.

A a fire broke out in a store for surplus materials located about ten meters away from the Realistic Institute. Students
inside the institute panicked. Four instructresses and six assistant instructress of the Institute were present and they,
together with the registrar, tried to calm down the students. However, the panic could not be subdued and the students,
with the exception of the few who made use of fire-escapes kept on rushing and pushing their way through the stairs,
thereby causing stampede therein. No part of the building caught fire. But after the panic was over, four students,
including Lourdes Fernandez, a sister of plaintiffs-appellants, were found dead and several others injured on account of
the stampede.

The deceased's five brothers and sisters filed an action for damages against Mercedes M. Teague as owner and operator
of Realistic Institute.

The decision of the appellate court declared that the defendant, hereinafter to be referred to as the petitioner, was
negligent and that such negligence was the proximate cause of the death of Lourdes Fernandez. This finding of
negligence is based primarily on the fact that the provision of Section 491 Of the Revised Ordinances of the City of
Manila had not been complied with in connection with the construction and use of the Gil-Armi building where the
petitioner's vocational school was housed

The alleged violation of the ordinance consisted in the fact that the second storey of the Gil-Armi building had only one
stairway, 1.5 meters wide, instead of two of at least 1.2 meters each, although at the time of the fire the owner of the
building had a second stairway under construction.

ISSUE: W/N petitioner is liable.

RULING: Decision affirmed.

RATIO: Petitioner was negligent and that such negligence was the proximate cause of the death of Lourdes Fernandez. This
finding of negligence is based primarily on the fact that the provision of Section 491 Of the Revised Ordinances of the City of
Manila had not been complied with in connection with the construction and use of the Gil-Armi building where the petitioner's
vocational school was housed. The mere fact of violation of a statute is not sufficient basis for an inference that such violation
was the proximate cause of the injury complained. However, if the very injury has happened which was intended to be
prevented by the statute, it has been held that violation of the statute will be deemed to be proximate cause of the injury.