December 2006 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence
G.R. No. 153674 - AVON COSMETICS, INCORPORATED, ET AL. v. LETICIA H. LUNA
FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. NO. 153674 : December 20, 2006]
AVON COSMETICS, INCORPORATED and JOSE MARIE FRANCO, Petitioners, v. LETICIA H. LUNA, Respondent.
D E C I S I O N
CHICO-NAZARIO, J.:
The Case
Before us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, seeking to reverse and set aside the Decision1 dated 20 May 2002 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 52550, which affirmed in toto the Decision2 dated 26 January 1996 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City, Branch 138, in Civil Case No. 88-2595, in favor of herein respondent Leticia H. Luna (Luna), rendered by the Honorable Ed Vicente S. Albano, designated as the "assisting judge" pursuant to Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 70-94, dated 16 June 1994.
The Facts
The facts of the case are not in dispute. As culled from the records, they are as follows:
The present petition stemmed from a complaint3 dated 1 December 1988, filed by herein respondent Luna alleging, inter alia' that she began working for Beautifont, Inc. in 1972, first as a franchise dealer and then a year later, as a Supervisor.
Sometime in 1978, Avon Cosmetics, Inc. (Avon), herein petitioner, acquired and took over the management and operations of Beautifont, Inc. Nonetheless, respondent Luna continued working for said successor company.
Aside from her work as a supervisor, respondent Luna also acted as a make-up artist of petitioner Avon's Theatrical Promotion's Group, for which she received a per diem for each theatrical performance.
On 5 November 1985, petitioner Avon and respondent Luna entered into an agreement, entitled Supervisor's Agreement, whereby said parties contracted in the manner quoted below:
The Company agrees:
x x x x
1) To allow the Supervisor to purchase at wholesale the products of the Company.
x x x x
The Supervisor agrees:
1) To purchase products from the Company exclusively for resale and to be responsible for obtaining all permits and licenses required to sell the products on retail.
x x x x
The Company and the Supervisor mutually agree:
x x x x
2) That this agreement in no way makes the Supervisor an employee or agent of the Company, therefore, the Supervisor has no authority to bind the Company in any contracts with other parties.
3) That the Supervisor is an independent retailer/dealer insofar as the Company is concerned, and shall have the sole discretion to determine where and how products purchased from the Company will be sold. However, the Supervisor shall not sell such products to stores, supermarkets or to any entity or person who sells things at a fixed place of business.
4) That this agreement supersedes any agreement/s between the Company and the Supervisor.
5) That the Supervisor shall sell or offer to sell, display or promote only and exclusively products sold by the Company.
6) Either party may terminate this agreement at will, with or without cause, at any time upon notice to the other.
x x x x.4
By virtue of the execution of the aforequoted Supervisor's Agreement, respondent Luna became part of the independent sales force of petitioner Avon.
Sometime in the latter part of 1988, respondent Luna was invited by a former Avon employee who was then currently a Sales Manager of Sandr