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California and Hawaii Sugar Co, Pacific Marine, CF Sharp & Co vs Pioneer Insurance and Surety Corp.

CALIFORNIA AND HAWAIIAN SUGAR COMPANY; PACIFIC GULF MARINE, INC.; and C.F. SHARP & COMPANY, petitioners, vs. PIONEER INSURANCE AND SURETY CORPORATION, respondent.

G.R. No. 139273 | 2000-11-28

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

Under the pre-1997 Rules of Court, a preliminary hearing on affirmative defenses may be allowed when a motion to dismiss has not been filed or when, having been filed, it has not been denied unconditionally. Hence, if its resolution has merely been deferred, the grounds it invokes may still be raised as affirmative defenses, and a preliminary hearing thereon allowed.

The Case

Before us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, assailing the January 21, 1999 Decision of the Court of Appeals[1] (CA) in CA-GR SP No. 33723, as well as the July 6, 1999 CA Resolution[2]...