If a passenger is killed in a bus or ferry accident, how are the damages measured?

Two sources feed the award

When a passenger is killed, the measure of damages comes from two places, and Article 1764 points to both. It provides that damages in cases comprised in this Section shall be awarded in accordance with Title XVIII of this Book, concerning Damages, and adds that Article 2206 shall also apply to the death of a passenger caused by the breach of contract by a common carrier. The first clause imports the Civil Code's general law on damages; the second layers on the specific article the Code wrote for death. A death claim therefore is not measured by a single tariff but assembled from these rules.

What Article 2206 provides for a death

Article 2206 is the heart of a death claim. It fixes an indemnity for the death itself, payable to the heirs simply because a life was lost. On top of that, it allows recovery for the loss of the earning capacity of the deceased — the income the passenger would have gone on to earn and that the family is now deprived of — assessed from age, health, occupation and expected working life. And it grants moral damages for the mental anguish of the deceased's close family: the spouse, legitimate and illegitimate descendants, and ascendants may claim for their grief. These heads are additional to any actual expenses proven.

It is a breach-of-contract claim

An important feature of the carrier's liability is its source. A passenger's death is treated as a breach of the contract of carriage — the carrier undertook to bring the passenger safely to destination and failed. That matters because the passenger does not have to prove the carrier was negligent to make out the claim; once the death in the course of carriage is shown, the carrier is presumed to have breached its duty and must prove it exercised the extraordinary diligence the law demands. Framing the case as breach of contract, rather than as an ordinary accident claim, is what puts that presumption to work for the family.

What the heirs will need to establish

For the family, the size of the award turns on proof. The indemnity for death follows from the fact of death, but loss of earning capacity has to be built from evidence — the deceased's age, occupation, income and health — so gather payslips, tax records, and anything showing what they earned and could have earned. Moral damages depend on showing the claimants' relationship to the deceased and their suffering. Keep the death certificate, the ticket or proof of the carriage, receipts for expenses, and records of the deceased's earnings, because each head of damages has to be supported rather than assumed.

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.

• Fortune Express, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, et. al, G.R. No. 119756, March 18, 1999 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Marito T. Bernales vs. Northwest Airlines, G.R. No. 182395, October 5, 2015 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• China Airlines vs. Daniel Chiok, G.R. No. 152122, July 30, 2003 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 118126, March 4, 1996 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 1764 — Damages and Death of a Passenger