The plaintiff and  appellant filed in the Court of First Instance of Manila a complaint  against the defendant and appellee   for breach of  contract  and/or for damages. Alleging  that this complaint is a mere reproduction  of appellant's counterclaim in Civil Case No.  40884, Coronet, Inc. vs.  M. M. de  los Reyes, which had already been dismissed by  the Municipal Court of  Manila,  the appellee filed a motion to dismiss  on  the ground of res juridicata. As the Court of First Instance of Manila sustained this ground of dismissal, the present appeal was taken  by the plaintiff.

The records show that  the Municipal Court of Manila dismissed appellant's counterclaim  because the same was already the  subject matter of  a separate (the present) complaint between the same parties in the Court of First Instance  of Manila, without trial on  the merits.  In fact there could not have been a trial on the merits, inasmuch as said counterclaim  (for actual damages  of P20,000 and moral damages of  P5,000) was beyond the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court.  The Court  of  First  Instance of Manila therefore erred in sustaining  the plea  of res  juridicata (L-9640, Manlapaz  vs.  Pagdanganan, November 26, 1957.)

Wherefore,  the order  appealed from is  reversed and the case remanded to the Court of First Instance of Manila for further proceedings.  So ordered  with  costs  against the appellee.

Bengzon, Montemayor, Reyes,  A.,  Bautista Angelo, Labrador,  Concepcion, Reyes, J. B.  L., Endencia, and Felix, JJ., concur.