The Supreme Court (SC) has decided to dismiss ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation’s counterclaim case against its former TV host, Willie Revillame, with the allegation of breach of contract.
In the 22-page decision penned by Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh and released on Tuesday, August 15, the SC’s Third Division ruled in favor of Revillame, taking notice of its prior judgment from the First Division, which had found ABS-CBN guilty of “forum shopping.”
Forum shopping pertains to initiating two or more legal actions in distinct courts, seeking rulings on the same or related matters, with the intention of enhancing the likelihood of obtaining a favorable verdict.
The court noted that ABS-CBN had maintained that Revillame remained under contract when he moved to TV5. Initially, ABS-CBN sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in 2010 to halt the airing of “Willing Willie.” Following the denial of this request for a TRO, ABS-CBN pursued a copyright infringement complaint at the Makati RTC, based on a similar premise of contractual violation.
The SC Third Division stated, “This clearly shows that ABS-CBN willfully sought the same relief in two different forums, expecting a favorable result after being denied the first time.”
Consequently, the court directed the Quezon City RTC to proceed with the ongoing civil case without ABS-CBN’s mandatory counterclaim.
The legal dispute between Revillame and ABS-CBN started in August 2010, when the television host initiated a legal action before the Quezon City RTC, seeking to revoke his three-year agreement with the media company.
In September 2010, ABS-CBN submitted its response, accompanied by a necessary counterclaim. This counterclaim requested stipulated damages amounting to over 700php million, as well as an additional 400php million “for each subsequent violation by Revillame or for each week of breach of their contract.”
Citing forum shopping, the Court of Appeals had earlier dismissed ABS-CBN’s copyright infringement complaint filed with the Makati RTC. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2019.
The SC elaborated that forum shopping is considered a “condemnable” practice, as it “leads to the potential of different competent tribunals arriving at conflicting and inconsistent verdicts” and “contributes to the congestion of the already overburdened court dockets.”
