Agravante vs PatriarcaMarch 15, 1990Jurisdiction over Parties(Civil Procedure)Plaintiff : Jose & Juan AgraventeDefendant: Juana Patriarca (substituted by Rosita)Ponente: NarvasaFACTS: 1960: Juana Patriarca filed ACTION TO QUIET TITLE with CoFI CamSur. Fire before pretrial.1. Reschedule pretrial: Agravante moved for cancellation.2. Reschedule pretrial again: Agravante moved for cancellation (illness of atty) –motionattached medcert. DENIED for lack of notice to adverse party, etc. Pretrial pushed through with defendants absent. Agravante declared in default andauthorized plaintiff to present evidence ex parte. Patriarca died. Heirs presented motion praying to be substituted in her stead. GRANTED. Agravante filed PETITION FOR CERTIORARI with SC:ISSUE: (topical) whether Court acquired jurisdiction over Patriarca.HELD:YESRATIO: Allegation of Agravante: demise of Patriarca long before the pre-trial setting prevented theTC from acquiring jurisdiction over her. SC: Jurisdiction over the person of the plaintiff is acquired by the court by the filing of complaint. 

Subsequent death will not affect jurisdiction, all that is entailed is the substitution of theheirs for the deceased in accordance with Rule 3, Sec 17. In this case, there’s no showing thatAgravantes had any ground to oppose the substitution or that they had suffered anyprejudice of any sort by reason of the substitution.JUDGMENT: Dismissed.