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Palero-Tan v. Urdaneta

Urdaneta, a court employee, is charged with misconduct for throwing away jewelry he found that belonged to Palero-Tan, a court stenographer. Urdaneta claims he found the jewelry and meant to return it, but threw it away after an argument with his wife. The court rules Urdaneta is at fault for not returning the jewelry as required, and that as the finder he had an obligation to restore the lost property to its owner or report finding it.

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130 views5 pages

Palero-Tan v. Urdaneta

Urdaneta, a court employee, is charged with misconduct for throwing away jewelry he found that belonged to Palero-Tan, a court stenographer. Urdaneta claims he found the jewelry and meant to return it, but threw it away after an argument with his wife. The court rules Urdaneta is at fault for not returning the jewelry as required, and that as the finder he had an obligation to restore the lost property to its owner or report finding it.

Uploaded by

Taco Belle
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PAL E R O - TAN

V. U R D A N E TA
[ P H Y S I C A L C U S T O DY ]
555 SCRA 28
JUNE 18, 2008

KATRINA JANINE M. STA. ANA


ID. NO. 11582716 / NOV. 2 2016
FACTS
Palero-Tan, a court stenographer, keeps
her ring and bracelet in the locked
drawer of her table in the RTC office.

She discovered that her jewelries were missing. She


informed her officemates about it, but nobody
claimed to have seen them.
Her officemate claimed that he heard from his
landlady that Urdaneta, a utility worker of the same
court, had a quarrel with his wife because the latter
discovered a ring and bracelet in his coin purse.
The wife admitted that they fought because she
thought he purchased it for his mistress.
Urdaneta confessed that he found the jewels but he
could no longer return them because he already threw
them away.

Palero-Tan charged Urdaneta with Conduct


ISSUE:
WHETHER
URDANETA CAN BE
FAULTED FOR
THROWING THE
JEWELRY HE FOUND?
ARGUMENTS
PALERO-TAN URDANETA
She claimed that He denied that he stole
Urdaneta took the the jewelries.
jewelries. He claimed that he
Her officemate found a small plastic
informed her that he sachet containing a ring
heard from his landlord and bracelet under his
that Urdaneta and his table, and took them
wife fought because of for safekeeping with
the jewelries in his coin the intention of
purse, as confirmed by returning them.
Urdanetas wife. He claimed that they
were only fancy
jewelries
He threw them away to
stop his wifes nagging.
RULING
Yes, Urdaneta can be faulted.
By admittedly finding Palero-Tans jewelry without
returning them, Urdaneta failed to live up to the high
ethical standards expected of court employees.
When a person who finds a thing that has been lost or
mislaid by the owner takes the thing into his hands, he
acquires physical custody only and does not become
vested with legal possession.
Art. 719 explicitly requires the finder of a lost property to
report it to proper authorities.
In assuming such custody, the finder is charged with
the obligation of restoring the thing to its owner.
It is thus respondents duty to report to his superior
or his officemates that he found something.

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