Short answer. Yes. Rule 47, Section 9 lets the judgment of annulment include an award of damages, attorney's fees, and other relief. If the annulled judgment had already been executed, the court may also issue orders of restitution or other relief that justice and equity may warrant.
What the law says
The judgment of annulment may include the award of damages, attorney's fees and other relief.
Rule 47, Section 9 — Relief available. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the questioned judgment or final order or resolution had already been executed, the court may issue such orders of restitution or other relief as justice and equity may warrant under the circumstances.
Rule 47, Section 9 — Relief available. Read the full provision →
More than just setting the judgment aside
Annulment does not have to be a bare, single-purpose remedy. Section 9 provides: the judgment of annulment may include the award of damages, attorney's fees and other relief. The Court of Appeals can address the consequences of the annulled judgment, not merely declare it void, folding compensation for the harm it caused into the same single annulment case rather than a separate action.
Restitution when the annulled judgment was already executed
Annulment sometimes arrives after the underlying judgment has already been enforced — property transferred, money collected. Section 9 anticipates this: if the questioned judgment or final order or resolution had already been executed, the court may issue such orders of restitution or other relief as justice and equity may warrant under the circumstances. This keeps the remedy from becoming hollow once enforcement has already run its course.
Why this flexibility matters
Without this provision, a petitioner who successfully annuls a judgment that has already been carried out could be left holding a legal victory with no practical remedy for what was already lost. Allowing damages, fees, and restitution within the same annulment case lets the court address both the legal defect and its real-world consequences together, in one proceeding rather than forcing a separate action to recover what execution already took.
This relief still flows from the annulment itself
The damages, fees, and restitution available under Section 9 are not a freestanding claim a petitioner can pursue independently of the annulment case — they attach to, and depend on, the court actually annulling the judgment or final order in question. A petition that fails to establish extrinsic fraud, lack of jurisdiction, or whatever other recognized ground it relies on will not reach this relief at all, since the underlying annulment is the precondition for everything Section 9 makes available.
What Section 9 leaves discretionary and who it binds
The word 'may' throughout Section 9 means none of this relief is automatic — the Court of Appeals is not obligated to award damages, attorney's fees, or restitution just because it grants the annulment, and a petitioner who wins on the underlying ground still has to separately justify each item of relief sought. The provision binds whichever party benefited from the annulled judgment's execution, since restitution orders run against the party that received what execution transferred, not against the court or any third party uninvolved in the original case. A petitioner seeking this relief should plead and prove it specifically rather than assume the annulment itself automatically carries damages or restitution along with it.
Related provisions
- Rule 47, Section 9 — Relief available
- Rule 47, Section 7 — Effect of judgment
- Rule 47, Section 1 — Coverage