Richmond P. Villanueva

Coca-Cola vs. Court of Appeals, 227 SCRA 293

QUASI-DELICT case

Facts:

Respondent Lydia Geronimo was the proprietess of Kindergarten Wonderland Canteen, engaged in the sale of soft drinks and other goods to the students of Kindergarten Wonderland and to the public. On August 12, 1989, some parents of the students complained that the Coke and Sprite soft drinks contained fiber-like matter and other foreign substances. She discovered the presence of some fiber-like substances in the contents of some unopened Coke bottles and a plastic matter in the contents of an unopened Sprite bottle. The Department of Health informed her that the samples she submitted are adulterated. Her sales of soft drinks plummeted, and not long after that, she had to close shop. She became jobless and destitute. She demanded from the petitioner the payment of damages but was rebuffed by it. She then filed a complaint before the RTC of Dagupan City, which granted the motion to dismiss filed by petitioner, on the ground that the complaint is based on contract, and not on quasi-delict, as there exists pre-existing contractual relation between the parties. Thus, on the basis of Article 1571, in relation to Article 1562, the complaint should have been filed within six months from the delivery of the thing sold. The CA reversed the RTC decision and held that Geronimo’s complaint is one for quasi-delict because of petitioner’s act of negligently manufacturing adulterated food items intended to be sold for public consumption; and that the existence of contractual relations between the parties does not absolutely preclude an action by one against the other for quasi-delict arising from negligence in the performance of a contract. Hence, this petition.

Issue:

Whether or not the action for damages by the proprietess against the soft drinks manufacturer should be