Family of ex-SC justice told to pay balance of boxer’s prize money

The Court of Appeals has ordered the family of a former Supreme Court Justice to pay former world boxing champion Luisito Espinosa US$130,349.00 which represents the balance of his prize money for winning the World Boxing Council Featherweight title in 1997.

In a 29-page decision promulgated on May 26, 2015 but made public Monday, the appeals court second division through Associate Justice Ramon Cruz reversed the decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 173 that dismissed Espinosa’s bid to collect the sum of money with damages against Rodolfo Nazario, husband of retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, former South Cotabato Governor Hilario de Pedro III and Joselito Mondejar. The three were the promoters and organizers of Espinosa’s fight.

The appeals court said since Nazario already died, his legal heirs Minita and their children Roderick Nazario, Rommelious Nazario and Karen Patricia Nazario-Bouzaid are ordered to pay Espinosa the amount of $130,349 plus 12 percent interest rate per annum which will be counted from the date of judicial demand on May 25, 1998 until June 30, 2013 and interest at the rate of six percent from July 1, 2013 until full satisfaction.

In 1997, Espinosa, together with his manager Joe Koizumi entered into a contract with Nazario and the two others for a title match against Carlos Rios of Argentina to be held in South Cotabato.

Under the contract, the promoters shall pay Koizumi and Espinosa the guaranteed purse of $150,000 and training expenses of US$10,000. They also agreed to pay Espinosa and Koizumi an advance of $50,000 and the $10,000 training expenses. But before the scheduled fight, the promoters paid $29,651 advance instead of the $60,000 that was agreed upon.

On the day of the actual fight, all parties executed a letter of guarantee which promised the payment of the balance of $130,349 on or before Dec. 16, 1997. But after the fight and despite demands, no payment was made.

Then, Espinosa and Koizumi filed a complaint before the Manila Regional Trial Court who ruled in favor of the promoters. They filed a motion for reconsideration but this was denied by the court. The two took their case to the Court of Appeals.

The appeals court, in deciding in favor of Espinosa, said Nazario’s allegation that he merely signed the agreement in “name only” and that he merely “noted” the Letter of Guarantee is an implied admission of the due execution and genuineness of the said instrument.

“The admission of the genuineness of the said document means that the party whose signature it bears admits that he voluntarily signed the document…,” the appeals court said.

“Judicial admissions do not require proof and may not be contradicted in the absence of a prior showing that the admissions had been made through palpabale mistake,” it addded.

The appeals court added that Nazario’s defense that he signed the agreement as an “accommodation party” has no merit.

“This defense, however, is not readily apparent from a perusal of the contents of the agreement. In fact, the agreement specifically referred to defendant-appellee Nazario as the local promoter and his obligation as such was clearly set forth in the said agreement,” the appeals court explained.

As for Mondejar, the appeals court said it was established that he was not a signatory in the contract and the letter of guarantee, thus, warranting the dismissal of the case against him.

On the other hand, the court said Espinosa’s camp failed to pursue the case against de Pedro despite the latter’s failure to file his answer to the complaint after his motion to dismiss was denied by the RTC.

“The complaint was filed by the plaintiffs in 1997, and it has been 18 years for the case to reach this point. It would be unfair and impractical to let this case go on for another number of years…We dismiss the case against defendant-appellee Governor de Pedro III for failure to prosecute…,” it added.

Concurring with the ruling were Remedios Salazar-Fernando and Marlene Gonzales-Sison. AU