DAN FUE LEUNG V

DAN FUE LEUNG v. IAC, GR No.
70926, 1989-01-31
Facts:
The Sun Wah Panciteria, a restaurant, located at Florentino Torres Street, Sta. Cruz,
Manila, was established sometime in October, 1955. It was... registered as a single
proprietorship and its licenses and permits were issued to and in favor of petitioner Dan Fue
Leung as the sole proprietor.
Respondent Leung Yiu adduced evidence during the trial of... the case to show that Sun
Wah Panciteria was actually a partnership and that he was one of the partners having
contributed P4,000.00 to its initial establishment.
The private respondent's evidence is summarized as follows:
About the time the Sun Wah Panciteria started to become operational, the private
respondent gave P4,000.00 as his contribution to the partnership.
his is evidenced by a... receipt identified as Exhibit "A" wherein the petitioner acknowledged
his acceptance of the P4,000.00 by affixing his signature thereto.
The receipt was written in Chinese characters so that the trial court commissioned an
interpreter in the... person of Ms. Florence Yap to translate its contents into English.
Florence Yap issued a certification and testified that the translation to the best of her
knowledge and belief was correct.
Witnesses So Sia and Antonio Ah Heng corroborated the private... respondent's testimony
to the effect that they were both present when the receipt (Exhibit "A") was signed by the
petitioner. So Sia further testified that he himself received from the petitioner... a similar
receipt (Exhibit D) evidencing delivery of his own investment in another amount of
P4,000.00.
An examination was conducted by the PC Crime Laboratory on orders of the trial court
granting the private... respondent's motion for examination of certain documentary exhibits.
The signatures in Exhibits "A" and "D" when compared to the signature of the petitioner
appearing in the pay envelopes of employees of the restaurant, namely Ah Heng... and
Maria Wong (Exhibits H, H-1 to H-24) showed that the signatures in the two receipts were
indeed the signatures of the petitioner.
Furthermore, the private respondent received from the petitioner the amount of P12,000.00
covered by the latter's Equitable Banking Corporation Check No. 13389470-B from the...
profits of the operation of the restaurant for the year 1974.
Witness Teodulo Diaz, Chief of the Savings Department of the China Banking Corporation
testified that said check (Exhibit B) was deposited... by and duly credited to the private
respondent's savings account with the bank after it was cleared by the drawee bank, the
Equitable Banking Corporation.
Another witness Elvira Rana of the Equitable Banking Corporation testified that... the check
in question was in fact and in truth drawn by the petitioner and debited against his own
account in said bank. This fact was clearly shown and indicated in the petitioner's
statement of account after the check (Exhibit B) was duly... cleared. Rana further testified
that upon clearance of the check and pursuant to normal banking procedure, said check
was returned to the petitioner as the maker thereof.
The petitioner denied having received from the private respondent the amount of
P4,000.00. He contested and impugned the genuineness of the receipt (Exhibit D). His
evidence is summarized as follows:
The petitioner did not receive any contribution at the time he started the Sun Wah
Panciteria. He used his savings from his salaries as an employee at Camp Stotsenberg in
Clark Field and later as waiter at the Toho
Restaurant amounting to a little more than P2,000.00 as capital in establishing Sun Wah
Panciteria.
To bolster his contention that he was the sole owner of the restaurant, the petitioner
presented various government... licenses and permits showing the Sun Wah Panciteria was
and still is a single proprietorship solely owned and operated by himself alone. Fue Leung
also flatly denied having issued to the private respondent... the receipt (Exhibit G) and the
Equitable Banking Corporation's Check No. 13389470 B in the amount of P12,000.00
(Exhibit B).
Both the trial court and the appellate court found that the private respondent is a partner of
the petitioner in the setting up and operations of the panciteria. While the dispositive
portions merely... ordered the payment of the respondent's share, there is no question from
the factual findings that the respondent invested in the business as a partner. Hence, the
two courts declared that the private petitioner is entitled to a share... of the annual profits of
the restaurant. The petitioner, however, claims that this factual finding is erroneous. Thus,
the petitioner argues: "The complaint avers that private respondent extended 'financial
assistance' to... herein petitioner at the time of the establishment of the Sun Wah Panciteria,
in return of which private respondent allegedly will receive a share in the profits of the
restaurant. The same... complaint did not claim that private respondent is a partner of the
business. It was, therefore, a serious error for the lower court and the Hon. Intermediate
Appellate Court to grant a relief not called for by the... complaint. It was also error for the
Hon. Intermediate Appellate Court to interpret or construe 'financial assistance' to mean the
contribution of capital by a partner to partnership;"
The pertinent portions of the complaint state:
"2. That on or about the latter (sic) of September, 1955, defendant sought the financial
assistance of plaintiff in operating the defendant's eatery known as Sun Wah Panciteria,...
located in the given address of defendant; as a return for such financial assistance, plaintiff
would be entitled to twenty-two percentum (22%) of the annual profit derived... from the
operationof the said panciteria;
"3. That on October 1, 1955, plaintiff delivered to the defendant the sum of four thousand
pesos (P4,000.00), Philippine Currency, of which copy for the receipt of such amount, duly
acknowledged by the defendant is attached hereto... as Annex "A", and form an integral
part hereof;"
In essence, the private respondent alleged that when Sun Wah Panciteria was established,
he gave P4,000.00 to the petitioner with the understanding that he would be entitled to
twenty-two percent (22%) of the annual... profit derived from the operation of the said
panciteria. These allegations, which were proved, make the private respondent and the
petitioner partners in the establishment of Sun Wah Panciteria because Article 1767 of... the
Civil Code provides that "By the contract of partnership two or more persons bind
themselves to contribute money, property or industry to a common fund, with the intention
of dividing the profits among themselves".
Therefore, the lower courts did not err in construing the complaint as one wherein the
private respondent asserted his rights as partner of the petitioner in the establishment of the
Sun Wah Panciteria, notwithstanding the use of the... term financial assistance therein.
The petitioner also contends that the respondent court gravely erred in giving probative
value to the PC Crime Laboratory Report (Exhibit "J") on the ground that the alleged
standards or specimens used by the PC Crime Laboratory in arriving at the conclusion
were... never testified to by any witness nor has any witness identified the handwriting in the
standards or specimens belonging to the petitioner. The supposed standards or specimens
of handwriting were marked as Exhibits "H", "H-1" to
"H-24" and admitted as evidence for the private respondent over the vigorous objection of
the petitioner's counsel.
Issues:
whether or not the private respondent is a partner of the petitioner in the establishment of
Sun Wah Panciteria.
Ruling:
We agree with the appellate court's observation to the effect that "x x x given its ordinary
meaning, financial assistance 'is the... giving out of money to another without the
expectation of any returns therefrom'. It connotes an ex gratiadole out in favor of someone
driven into a state of destitution. But... this circumstance under which the P4,000.00 was
given to the petitioner does not obtain in this Case." (p. 99, Rollo) The complaint explicitly
stated that "as a return for such financial assistance, plaintiff (private... respondent) would
be entitled to twenty-two percentum (22%) of the annual profit derived from the operation of
the said panciteria." (p. 107, Rollo) The well-settled doctrine is that the "x x x nature... of the
action filed in court is determined by the facts alleged in the complaint as constituting the
cause of action." (De Tavera v. Philippine Tuberculosis Society, Inc., 113 SCRA 243; Alger
Electric, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 135 SCRA

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