Misleading acts

Dear Atty. Nico,

I was a graduating law student from one of the renowned schools in the Philippines. I planned to take this year’s Bar examination. Unfortunately, I discovered that I had a deficiency. As a result, I had to drop.

According to my school, I failed Practice Court II because I was not able to take the regular final examination. Thus, I was given an incomplete grade. I filed an application for the removal of the said grade and was approved. I took the examination anew and was given a good grade for the same. Eventually, my name was included in the tentative list of graduating students. I even attended the commencement exercises.

Can I sue my school for damages for misleading me into believing that I had satisfied all the requirements for graduation when such is not the case?

Thank you.

Carlitos

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Dear Carlitos,

According to a decided case by the Supreme Court, you have the right to file an action against your school based on your predicament.

In University of the East v Romeo A. Jader, the Court explained that when a student is enrolled in any educational or learning institution, a contract of education is entered into between said institution and the student. The professors, teachers, or instructors hired by the school are considered merely as agents and administrators tasked to perform the school’s commitment under the contract. Since the contracting parties are the school and the student, the latter is not duty-bound to deal with the former’s agents, such as the professors with respect to the status or result of his grades, although nothing prevents either professors or students from sharing with each other such information.

The Court took judicial notice of the traditional practice in educational institutions wherein the professor directly furnishes his/her students their grades. It is the contractual obligation of the school to timely inform and furnish sufficient notice and information to each and every student as to whether he or she had already complied with all the requirements for the conferment of a degree or whether they would be included among those who will graduate. Although commencement exercises are but a formal ceremony, it nonetheless is not an ordinary occasion, since such ceremony is the educational institution’s way of announcing to the whole world that the students included in the list of those who will be conferred a degree during the baccalaureate ceremony have satisfied all the requirements for such degree. Prior or subsequent to the ceremony, the school has the obligation to promptly inform the student of any problem involving the latter’s grades and performance and also most importantly, of the procedures for remedying the same.

Considering further, that the institution of learning involved herein is a university which is engaged in legal education, it should have practiced what it inculcates in its students, more specifically the principle of good dealings enshrined in Articles 19 and 20 of the Civil Code which states:

Art. 19. Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith.

Art 20. Every person who, contrary to law, willfully or negligently causes damage to another, shall indemnify the latter for the same.

Art. 19 was intended to expand the concept of torts by granting adequate legal remedy for the untold number of moral wrongs which is impossible for human foresight to provide specifically in statutory law.

Educational institutions are duty-bound to inform the students of their academic status and not wait for the latter to inquire from the former. The conscious indifference of a person to the rights or welfare of the person/persons who may be affected by his act or omission can support a claim for damages. Want of care to the conscious disregard of civil obligations coupled with a conscious knowledge of the cause naturally calculated to produce them would make the erring party liable.

Applying the foregoing ruling to the given facts, your school may be held liable for causing you not to participate in this year’s Bar examination. By making you go through such circumstances such as including your name in the tentative list of graduating students as well as making you participate in the commencement exercises, there is an apparent want of care from the school. Therefore, an action for damages may be filed.

Atty. Nico A. Antonio