PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Leland R Villadolid J, Gilberto D Gallos, Antonio Jose Gerardo T Paz and Leo Frederick Z Cruz, Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz (ACCRALAW)
3.5 Rules of Service A defendant is informed of the filing of the complaint through the service of summons upon them, together with a copy of the complaint. Summons is served by personally handing this to the defendant and informing them that they are being served. Domestic private corporations are served summons through their President, managing partner, general manager, corporate secretary, treasurer or in- house counsel. In the case of foreign private corpora- tions, summons is served upon their resident agent in the Philippines. If service upon the defendant by hand cannot be made, substituted service of summons may be resorted to. Summons may also be served even if the defendant is not located in the Philippines. In such cases, extraterritorial service of summons may be allowed by the courts. Service of summons is principally the duty of the sher- iff of the court/branch to which the case has been referred. Under certain circumstances, the plaintiff may also be authorised by the court to serve sum- mons together with the sheriff. 3.6 Failure to Respond If the defendant fails to answer within the period pre- scribed under the Rules of Court, the plaintiff may – with notice to the defendant – move that the latter be declared in default. If the court declares the defendant in default, it may proceed to either render judgment granting the plaintiff such relief as the complaint may warrant or require the plaintiff to present evidence ex parte. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions When the subject matter of the dispute is one of common or general interest to many persons – ie, so numerous that it is impracticable to join all of them as parties – a number of them (called representative plaintiffs) as the court finds to be sufficiently numer- ous and representative as to fully protect the interests of all concerned may sue or defend for the benefit of all. Under the Rules of Court, any parties-in-interest are allowed to intervene in a class suit to protect their individual interests.
3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate Lawyers are not required by law to provide clients with a cost estimate of the potential litigation at the out- set. However, lawyers have a fiduciary duty to their clients, and should charge fair and reasonable fees based on certain criteria, including (among others) the time spent and the extent of the services rendered.
4. Pre-Trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
Before trial on the merits, parties may avail of provi- sional remedies to preserve certain rights or proper- ties and to ensure that the final order of the court will not be rendered nugatory by the actions of the par- ties in the interim. Among the available remedies are preliminary attachments and preliminary injunctions. A preliminary attachment generally intends to preserve assets of the defendant, to ensure that any favourable monetary judgment or award in favour of the plain- tiff will be satisfied. An attachment places the assets under the constructive control of the court and cannot be disposed of by the defendant pending litigation. A preliminary injunction ensures that the status quo prior to the start of the dispute is maintained pend- ing litigation, to prevent grave irreparable injury to the applicant. Please see also 4.2 Early Judgment Applications , 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases , 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief and 7.2 Case Management Hear- ings . 4.2 Early Judgment Applications A party may avail of certain modes to resolve all or some issues without a full-blown trial.
The plaintiff may file a motion for: • judgment on the pleadings; or • a motion for summary judgment.
Judgment on the pleadings is proper “where an answer fails to tender an issue, or otherwise admits the material allegations of the adverse party’s plead-
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