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SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Sun Insurance Office, Ltd., (SIOL) vs. Asuncion
G.R. Nos. 79937-38. February 13, 1989.
*
SUN INSURANCE OFFICE, LTD., (SIOL), E.B. PHILIPPS
AND D.J. WARBY, petitioners,
vs.
HON. MAXIMIANO C.
ASUNCION, Presiding Judge, Branch 104, Regional Trial
Court, Quezon City and MANUEL CHUA UY PO TIONG,
respondents.
Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Actions; Statutes regulating the
procedure of courts are applicable to actions pending and
undetermined at the time of their passage.
·On the other hand,
private respondent claims that the ruling in
Manchester
cannot
apply retroactively to Civil Case No. Q-41177 for at the time said
civil case was filed in court there was no such
Manchester
ruling as
yet. Further, private respondent avers that what is applicable is the
ruling of this Court in
Magaspi v. Ramolete,
wherein this Court
held that the trial court acquired jurisdiction over the case even if
the docket fee paid was insufficient. The contention that
Manchester
cannot apply retroactively to this case is untenable.
Statutes regulating the procedure of the courts will be construed as
applicable to actions pending and undetermined at the time of their
passage. Procedural laws are retrospective in that sense and to that
extent.
Same; Same; Same; Jurisdiction; Complaint; Docket Fees; It is
not only the filing of the complaint, but the payment of the
prescribed docket fee, that vests a trial court with jurisdiction over
the subject matter or nature of the action.
·It is not simply the filing
of the complaint or appropriate initiatory pleading, but the payment
of the prescribed docket fee, that vests a trial court with jurisdiction
over the subject-matter or nature of the action. Where the filing of
the initiatory pleading is not accompanied by payment of the docket
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 170
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fee,
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EN BANC.
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VOL. 170, FEBRUARY 13, 1989
275
Sun Insurance Office, Ltd., (SIOL) vs. Asuncion
the court may allow payment of the fee within a reasonable time
but in no case beyond the applicable prescriptive or reglementary
period.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Permissive Counter-
claims; Third-Party Claims; Permissive counter-claims, third-party
claims and the like shall not be considered filed until and unless the
prescribed filing fee is paid.
·The same rule applies to permissive
counterclaims, third-party claims and similar pleadings, which
shall not be considered filed until and unless the filing fee
prescribed therefor is paid. The court may also allow payment of
said fee within a reasonable time but also in no case beyond its
applicable prescriptive or reglementary period.
