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[FEDERICO LOPEZ ET AL v. YU SEFAO](https://www.lawyerly.ph/juris/view/cec7?user=fbGU2WFpmaitMVEVGZ2lBVW5xZ2RVdz09)
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[ GR No. 9393, Aug 20, 1915 ]

FEDERICO LOPEZ ET AL v. YU SEFAO +

DECISION

31 Phil. 319

[ G. R. No. 9393, August 20, 1915 ]

FEDERICO LOPEZ ET AL, PLAINTIFFS AND APPELLEES, VS. YU SEFAO AND BEHN, MEYER & CO., DEFENDANTS. YU SEFAO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

D E C I S I O N

JOHNSON, J.:

This was an action commenced in  the Court of First Instance of the Province of  Samar by the plaintiff to recover of the defendants a boat or lanchon, or its value, alleged to be P1,000, together with damages in the sum of P4,680.  The defendant,  Yu Sefao, at  first presented  a demurrer, which was overruled.  Later, he presented a general  and special defense.  Still later,  he asked permission to withdraw his counterclaim and instead thereof to present the defense that the plaintiffs were without legal  capacity to sue.   The defendants, Behn,  Meyer & Co., presented a general denial. Later, Behn, Meyer & Co., were absolved from all liability under the complaint.

After hearing the evidence adduced during the trial of the cause, the Honorable Ramon Avanceña, in a carefully prepared  opinion, reached the conclusion:  (a) That the plaintiffs  had legal capacity to  sue; and (b)  rendered a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant, Yu Sefao, in the sum of P990.

From  that judgment,  after presenting a  motion for a new  trial, the defendant, Yu  Sefao, appealed to this court. The  only assignment of error made by the  appellant here is that the lower court committed an error in deciding that the plaintiffs had  legal capacity to sue.   The defendant and appellant argues that the plaintiffs had been doing business under the name of Lopez Hermanos; that they had not been organized as a society, in accordance with the provisions of the Commercial Code, and that, therefore, they were not authorized to sue and cited decisions of  this court in support of that conclusion.  Evidently the defendant and appellant had not examined the complaint presented by the plaintiffs.  An examination of the complaint would  have shown the defendant that the present action  was not  commenced  in  the  name of Lopez Hermanos,  but in the individual names of the persons constituting the alleged society or mercantile association.   We find nothing in the procedure in the present case which is in conflict with  the decisions cited by the appellant.  The plaintiffs in the present case, even granting that the society called Lopez Hermanos was not authorized to sue in the name of said society for the  reason  that it  had not been properly  organized, yet, nevertheless, they were permitted to "sue in their individual names.   (Prautch vs. Jones,  8 Phil. Rep.,  1;  Strachan & MacMurray vs. Emaldi, 22 Phil. Rep., 295.)

The appellant having presented no question  here except the  one above  discussed, and it  having  been found  that the plaintiffs had legal capacity to sue, we must affirm the decision of the lower court.  The same is, therefore, hereby affirmed with costs.  So ordered.

Arellano, C. J., Torres, Carson, Trent, and Araullo, JJ., concur.

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