INTER-REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION vs. COURT OF APPEALS and RICARDO CABALLERO
Facts:
Ricardo Caballero owns an agricultural land and had leased it to Inter-Regional Development Corp. represented by spouses Jose Bañez and Isabel Bañez. Conflict started when Caballero sold the land to Isidro Estrada eventhough there was still a standing crop to be harvested by the petitioner. Caballero's argument is that when he sold the land, it follows that what ever was planted there comes with it. The petitioner for this certiorari case argues otherwise.
Issue:
WON the standing crops is treated as part of a leased land if sold
Held:
No. True it is that under article 440 of the Civil Code the ownership of property includes the right of accession to everything attached thereto either naturally or artificially, and that under article 415, trees, plants and growing fruits, while they are attached to the land, are immovable property; it is equally true that when a person plants in good faith on land belonging to another, the landowner does not ipso facto acquire ownership of what has been planted; he must first indemnify the planter before he can appropriate the same. And so provides article 448: The owner of the land in which anything has been built, sown or planted in good faith, shall have the right to appropriate as his own the works, sowing or planting, after payment of the indemnity provided for in articles 546 and 548 ....