Bacolod court dismisses Yanson 4 petition
Credit to Author: JAIME PILAPIL, TMT| Date: Wed, 02 Oct 2019 17:26:05 +0000
CITING forum shopping, a Bacolod court has junked a petition filed by the so-called Yanson 4 against their youngest sibling and long-time president Leo Rey Yanson of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), the country’s biggest bus company.
“Wherefore, the instant Petition for Injunction filed by plaintiffs, Roy V. Yanson, Emily V. Yanson, Ma. Lourdes Celina Yanson-Lopez and Ricardo V. Yanson Jr. against defendant Leo Rey V. Yanson is hereby dismissed for lack of merit,” the court decision read.
Regional Trial Court Branch 45 Judge Phoebe Gargantiel-Balbin, in a five-page September 24 resolution, said “the rule is clear that forum shopping is a ground for dismissal of a case.”
Last August 15, the Yanson 4 filed the instant petition for injunction against Leo Rey to invalidate his call of a special stockholders’ meeting on August 19.
But Gargantiel-Balbin said the plaintiffs’ filing of the instant petition “squarely falls under the definition of Forum Shopping, which exists when, as a result of an adverse judgment in one forum, a party seeks another and possibly favorable judgment in another forum rather than appeal or special civil action for certiorari.”
Branch 53 Judge Eduardo Sayson earlier dismissed the petition for a 72-hour temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by the Yanson 4 against Leo Rey to stop him from performing as the president of the multibillion-peso VTI under the Yanson Group of Bus Companies.
“The determination of all corporate concerns between the parties could be best resolved with finality and without conflicting judgment if lodged in one court alone. This is the purpose of the rule against forum shopping,”
Gargantiel-Balbin pointed out.
“This is the purpose of the rule against forum shopping. With these findings, this Court will not anymore discuss the other ground of splitting a single cause of action cited by defendant [Leo Rey] in his opposition,” she added.
From a 14-seater jeepney plying only a single route, the Yanson patriach Ricardo Sr. and his wife Olivia founded the parent company, Ceres Bus Lines, which eventually evolved into the multibillion-peso VTI with 18,000 employees and 4,800 buses operating in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Ricardo Sr. passed away in 2015 and left the transportation empire to his youngest son Leo Rey.
The eldest sibling, Roy, in a stockholders’ meeting last July 7, issued a board resolution to oust Leo Rey as company president and to illegally take over the management.
The Yanson 4 filed a TRO petition before the sala of Sayson, insisting that their July 7 board resolution was legal.
Leo Rey offered a solution to his siblings by “toss coin,” but they refused.