I got sick from a contaminated bottled drink — can I sue the manufacturer even though I bought it at a store?

The objection this provision was written to answer

The first thing a manufacturer reaches for is that it never sold you anything: you bought from a store, your contract is with the store, and it owes you nothing. Article 2187 answers that in its own text, because liability attaches although no contractual relation exists between them and the consumers. Privity is simply not a requirement here. That is the whole purpose of the provision, and it is why a claim over a sealed bottle taken off a shelf is aimed at the company that filled it rather than at the shop that stocked it.

What it covers, and what it does not

The article is narrower than “anything that harmed me”. It reaches manufacturers and processors of foodstuffs, drinks, toilet articles and similar goods, so the product class matters. It covers death or injuries, which means bodily harm rather than the price of the drink or a ruined evening. And the harm must come from noxious or harmful substances used, that is, something in the product, not a chipped bottle or a misleading label. Read those three limits together before deciding this is your provision, because a complaint about the wrong kind of harm does not improve by being made loudly.

The store is a separate question

Suing the manufacturer does not make the shop irrelevant, but any claim against it stands on a different footing. Article 2187 names manufacturers and processors and stops there; whatever you may have against the seller you actually bought from arises out of the sale and is governed by the law on sales rather than by this article. In practice the retailer is also the party who can identify where the stock came from. Deciding whom to pursue is a question about evidence and solvency as much as about doctrine, and it is better taken before a demand letter goes out.

The case is usually won on the object

Keep the bottle and whatever is left in it, untouched, along with the cap, the label and any batch or lot marking, because that marking is what ties your bottle to a production run. Keep the receipt if you have one and note where and when you bought it. On the injury side, get seen and keep every clinical record, since the article compensates death or injuries and the medical documentation is the claim. Photograph all of it before anyone offers to collect the bottle for testing.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

• Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils., Inc. Vs.Ernani Guingona Meñez, G.R. No. 209906, November 22, 2017 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 2176 — Quasi-Delict Defined (Culpa Aquiliana)
• Civil Code, Article 2199 — Actual Damages Must Be Proved