Samson Ching v. Clarita Nicdao

Summary

Samson Ching filed criminal complaints against Clarita Nicdao for eleven counts of violation of BP 22 involving dishonored checks totaling P20,950,000.00. While the lower courts convicted Nicdao, the Court of Appeals acquitted her, finding that the largest check for P20,000,000.00 was stolen and never properly delivered, while the remaining obligations were already fully paid. The Supreme Court denied Ching's petition to enforce civil liability despite the acquittal, holding that although the offended party may appeal the civil aspect of a criminal case, no civil liability existed because the act from which such liability might arise did not exist. The Court affirmed that the stolen check could not serve as basis for liability under the Negotiable Instruments Law, and that Nicdao had already overpaid her actual loan obligations of P2,100,000.00 with payments totaling P6,980,000.00. This case demonstrates the intersection between criminal and civil liability in bouncing check cases and the circumstances under which criminal acquittal extinguishes corresponding civil liability.