QC court junks ABS-CBN’s P63-million damage suit vs AGB Nielsen

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) yesterday dismissed the P63-million damage and breach of contract complaint filed by television network ABS-CBN against AGB Nielsen over allegations of tampered television ratings.

Citing “premature filing,” Quezon City RTC Branch 80 ruled that the two parties should have resolved the issue between themselves before seeking court intervention.

Lawyer Francisco Rivera, counsel for AGB Nielsen, said the decision effectively rendered moot the temporary restraining order against the further release of results of the ratings firm asked for by the TV giant.

“There is no more legal obstacle for our client to release its data (on TV ratings),” Rivera told reporters in an interview.

In a seven-page decision, presiding Judge Charito Gonzales said ABS-CBN should have first resolved the allegations with AGB Nielsen privately as stated in the contract between the two companies.

“Article 1159 of the Civil Code of the Philippines provides that obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the contracting parties and should be complied with in good faith,” the decision said.

“Section 5 of the service contract leaves no doubt that ABS-CBN agreed to give AGB Nielsen a period of one month to explain and another period of three months to address questions concerning the quality and validity of the data used in fixing ratings performance,” it added.

Rivera said that under the contract, ABS-CBN should have first filed a complaint with AGB Nielsen with regard to the integrity of the TV ratings.

He said AGB Nielsen would then conduct an investigation into the matter, which should last 30 days at most.

According to Rivera, AGB Nielsen is in the final stage of the investigation into the allegations, which is expected to be finished within the week.

He said the results of this investigation will be the basis of private discussions between ABS-CBN and AGB Nielsen that should last, at most, up to three months.

The network could only file a case if ABS-CBN would still be unsatisfied with the findings and with its discussions with AGB Nielsen.

After ABS-CBN filed the case against AGB Nielsen last Dec. 14, the latter filed its response, saying the court should dismiss the case as the network failed to comply with provisions in the service contract between the two companies.

“AGB Nielsen stands firm that the above-quoted provision must be satisfied first before the instant action in Court may prosper. As such, the failure of ABS-CBN to comply with said provision is tantamount to failure to comply with a condition precedent for filing an action – a valid ground for the dismissal of an action pursuant to Section 1(j) of Rule 16 of the Rules of Court. AGB Nielsen is correct,” the decision stated. – Zinnia de la Peña