Short answer. Yes. Article 1824 makes all the partners liable solidarily with the partnership for everything chargeable to it under the rules on a partner's wrongful acts and on misapplied money or property. So for those wrongs, each partner can be made to answer in full for the whole liability — not merely a proportionate share.
What the law says
All partners are liable solidarily with the partnership for everything chargeable to the partnership under articles 1822 and 1823.
Civil Code, Article 1824 — Solidary Liability for Wrongful Acts. Read the full provision →
Solidary liability for the firm's wrongs
Article 1824 is short but consequential. All partners are liable solidarily with the partnership for everything chargeable to the partnership under articles 1822 and 1823. Those two articles cover the partnership's liability for a partner's wrongful act or omission committed in the ordinary course of the business, and for money or property of outsiders that is misapplied. For that category of liability, Article 1824 makes every partner solidarily liable together with the firm.
Why these wrongs get solidary treatment
It is worth seeing why the law reaches for the strongest form of liability here. The obligations covered are not ordinary contract debts of the firm but its liability for wrongs — a partner's tort or wrongful act done in the business, and the misapplication of money entrusted to the firm. These fall on innocent third parties who were injured or whose property was taken, and the law wants their recovery to be as secure as possible. Making each partner solidarily liable means the victim can pursue whichever partner is solvent and reachable for the full amount, rather than chasing each partner for a slice and bearing the risk that some cannot pay.
How it differs from ordinary partnership debts
This is worth contrasting with the firm's ordinary contractual obligations, where partners are generally liable only pro rata — each for his proportionate share — with their separate property. Article 1824 marks out wrongs for harsher treatment: solidary, not merely pro rata. So a partner who had no hand in a co-partner's wrongful act, and who may not even have known of it, can still be made to pay the whole of the resulting liability if it was chargeable to the firm. His remedy is not to resist the victim but to seek contribution from the others afterwards.
What it means for you
For anyone going into a partnership, this is a risk to understand plainly: you can be held personally and fully liable for a wrong committed by a co-partner in the course of the business, even one you did not commit or authorise. That is a strong reason to be careful about who you partner with and how the firm's affairs are supervised, and to consider whether a structure with limited liability fits your situation better. For someone injured by a partnership's wrong, it is good news — you may pursue any partner for the whole. In a dispute, the questions to settle are whether the wrong was chargeable to the firm and, if so, which solvent partner to look to.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Dr. Restituto C. Buenviaje vs. Spouses Jovito R. and Lydia B. Salonga, et al, G.R. No. 216023, October 5, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Michael C. Guy vs. Atty. Glenn C. Gacott, G.R. No. 206147, January 13, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Ma. Julieta B. Bendecio and Merlyn Mascariñas vs. Virginia B. Bautista, G.R. No. 242087, December 7, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →