The Supreme Court has directed a Pasig City court to proceed with the resolution of an intra-corporate case involving a tuna canning company as its laid down new rules pertaining to the payment of docket fees for intra-corporate cases.
In a 12-page decision penned by Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, the First Division ordered the Pasig City Regional Trial Court, Branch 159, to take up the complaint filed by Harvest All Investment Limited (Harvest All) composed of investors from Singapore against Alliance International Inc. (Alliance). Harvest All questioned Alliance’s decision to indefinitely postpone its annual stockholders meeting pending complete subscription to its stock rights offering consisting of shares with a total value of P1 billion. The firm’s bylaws mandates that its ASM should be held every June 15.
The SC ruled that the Pasig City court should hear the case after it has determined whether the payment of Harvest of P8,860 in filing fees is a sufficient compliance with the amended schedule of legal fees.
The tribunal stressed that its previous ruling in the case of Lu vs Lu Ym which denotes that “an intra-corporate controversy always involves a property in litigation, the value of which is always the basis for computing the applicable filing fees,” was a mere “obiter dictum” or an opinion that does not bind the courts in deciding similar cases.
The high court noted that the case does not involve recovery of sum of money because the main purpose of the complaint is to compel Alliance to hold its 2015 ASM on the date set in the corporation’s by laws so that their voting interest with the corporation would somehow be preserved.
