WHEN VENUE SHAPES JUSTICE

Once upon a time, two college students in Metro Manila got into a fistfight — let’s call them A and B.

A threw a punch. B fell, hit his head on the curb, and was knocked unconscious.

The school rushed him to the hospital, and eventually, he recovered — or so everyone thought.

Years later, it turned out B suffered permanent brain damage. His family decided to sue the school, not A, arguing that the incident happened within school grounds. And instead of filing in Metro Manila (where the school was), they filed in Mindoro, B family’s hometown.

That single decision — where the case was filed — made the ordeal far more painful for the school. It had to fly lawyers and staff to Mindoro for every hearing, and the travel and legal expenses eventually cost more than the damages being claimed.

So what does this have to do with real estate?

Most property contracts include a line that says something like:

“Any disputes arising from this Agreement shall be filed exclusively in the courts of Makati City.”

That single sentence decides where you’ll have to fight a legal battle — and it can save (or cost) you hundreds of thousands in legal fees.

A well-written contract doesn’t just protect you from what can go wrong — it also controls where you’ll have to fight when things do.