G.R. No. L-25704 April 24, 1968
ANGEL JOSE WAREHOUSING CO., INC., plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
CHELDA ENTERPRISES and DAVID SYJUECO, defendants-appellants.
Luis A. Guerrero for plaintiff-appellee.
Burgos and Sarte for defendants-appellants.
BENGZON, J.P., J.:
FACTS
Plaintiff corporation filed suit in the Court of First Instance of Manila on May 29, 1964 against the partnership Chelda Enterprises and David Syjueco, its capitalist partner, for recovery of alleged unpaid loans in the total amount of P20,880.00, with legal interest from the filing of the complaint, plus attorney’s fees of P5,000.00. Alleging that post dated checks issued by defendants to pay said account were dishonored, that defendants’ industrial partner, Chellaram I. Mohinani, had left the country, and that defendants have removed or disposed of their property, or are about to do so, with intent to defraud their creditors, preliminary attachment was also sought.
Answering, defendants averred that they obtained four loans from plaintiff in the total amount of P26,500.00, of which P5,620.00 had been paid, leaving a balance of P20,880.00; that plaintiff charged and deducted from the loan usurious interests thereon, at rates of 2% and 2.5% per month, and, consequently, plaintiff has no cause of action against defendants and should not be permitted to recover under the law. A counterclaim for P2,000.00 attorney’s fees was interposed.
Great reliance is made by appellants on Art. 1411 of the New Civil Code which states:
Art. 1411. When the nullity proceeds from the illegality of the cause or object of the contract, and the act constitutes criminal offense, both parties being in pari delicto, they shall have no action against each other, and both shall be prosecuted. Moreover, the provisions of the Penal Code relative to the disposal of effects or instruments of a crime shall be applicable to the things or the price of the contract.
This rule shall be applicable when only one of the parties is guilty; but the innocent one may claim what he has given, and shall not be bound to comply with his promise.
Since, according to the appellants, a usurious loan is void due to illegality of cause or object, the rule of pari delicto expressed in Article 1411, supra, applies, so that neither party can bring action against each other. Said rule, however, appellants add, is modified as to the borrower, by express provision of the law (Art. 1413, New Civil Code), allowing the borrower to recover interest paid in excess of the interest allowed by the Usury Law. As to the lender, no exception is made to the rule; hence, he cannot recover on the contract. So — they continue — the New Civil Code provisions must be upheld as against the Usury Law, under which a loan with usurious interest is not totally void, because of Article 1961 of the New Civil Code, that: “Usurious contracts shall be governed by the Usury Law and other special laws, so far as they are not inconsistent with this Code.” (Emphasis ours.)
ISSUE
Whether or not the illegal terms as to payment of interest likewise renders a nullity the legal terms as to payments of the principal debt.
HELD
Article 1420 of the New Civil Code provides in this regard: “In case of a divisible contract, if the illegal terms can be separated from the legal ones, the latter may be enforced.”
In simple loan with stipulation of usurious interest, the prestation of the debtor to pay the principal debt, which is the cause of the contract (Article 1350, Civil Code), is not illegal. The illegality lies only as to the prestation to pay the stipulated interest; hence, being separable, the latter only should be deemed void, since it is the only one that is illegal.
Obligations and Contracts 