Short answer. Documents, not estimates. Article 2199 allows adequate compensation only for the pecuniary loss a claimant has duly proved. Receipts, invoices, medical bills and payroll records are what turn a loss into an award, and a plausible figure with nothing behind it is routinely cut to nothing.
What the law says
one is entitled to an adequate compensation only for such pecuniary loss suffered by him as he has duly proved
Civil Code, Article 2199 — Actual Damages Must Be Proved. Read the full provision →
Two words carry the whole rule
Article 2199 provides that, except as provided by law or by stipulation, one is entitled to an adequate compensation only for such pecuniary loss suffered by him as he has duly proved. Pecuniary confines this head of damages to losses measurable in money, which is why pain, worry and indignity are dealt with under different provisions. Duly proved is the harder word. It means the court awards what the evidence establishes and not what the claimant credibly says he lost, and it is the reason well-founded claims are cut down at judgment stage more often than they are dismissed.
What counts as pecuniary loss
More than out-of-pocket spending. Article 2200 provides that indemnification comprehends not only the value of the loss suffered but also the profits the injured party failed to obtain. Article 2205 allows recovery for loss or impairment of earning capacity in cases of temporary or permanent personal injury, and for injury to business standing or commercial credit. Article 2202 removes an argument the defence often tries in accident cases: in crimes and quasi-delicts the defendant is liable for all damages that are the natural and probable consequences of the act, and it is not necessary that they were foreseen or foreseeable.
When you cannot document the amount
Some real losses leave no paper. Article 2224 answers that with temperate or moderate damages, more than nominal but less than compensatory, recoverable where the court finds that some pecuniary loss was suffered but its amount cannot from the nature of the case be proved with certainty. Article 2216 adds that no proof of pecuniary loss is necessary for moral, nominal, temperate, liquidated or exemplary damages, and that their assessment, liquidated damages aside, is left to the discretion of the court. These are alternatives to a failed actual-damages claim, not additions to a successful one.
Build the file the way a court reads it
Keep original official receipts rather than photocopies, and have them issued in the injured person's name so the link between the payer and the loss is on the face of the document. Ask your employer for a certificate of earnings and of days absent. Prefer a paid invoice to a repair quotation, since one proves a loss and the other only predicts it. Keep a dated log of every expense as it happens, including fares and carer's costs, because the small recurring items are the ones nobody can reconstruct a year later.
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.
- Industrial Personnel And Management Services, Inc. vs. Country Bankers Insurance Corporation, G.R. No. 194126, October 17, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Filipinas Synthetic Fiber Corporation vs. Wilfredo De Los Santos, et al, G.R. No. 152033, March 16, 2011 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- G.Q. Garments, Inc. vs. Angel Miranda, et al, G.R. No. 161722, July 20, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Marikina Auto Line Transport Corporation, et al. vs. People of The Philippines, et al, G.R. No. 152040, March 31, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 2199 — Actual Damages Must Be Proved
- Civil Code, Article 2200 — Loss Suffered and Profits Not Realized
- Civil Code, Article 2205 — Loss of Earning Capacity and Business Standing
- Civil Code, Article 2224 — Temperate Damages Defined