## Facts

- Jacob E. Decker & Sons, Inc. manufactured and marketed a packaged sausage product (“Cervalet”) as suitable for human consumption.
- The sausage was sold to a retailer in Texas for resale and was later purchased by the Capps family.
- Family members ate the sausage shortly after purchase.
- One child died and other family members, including Mrs. Pearl Capps and two surviving minor children, became seriously ill.
- Mrs. Capps sued the manufacturer for her own injuries and as next friend of her two minor children; the actions were tried together.
- The jury found the sausage was contaminated and unfit for human consumption when processed and that consumption proximately caused the injuries.
- The jury also found the manufacturer was not negligent in manufacturing, processing, or inspection, and characterized the event as an “unavoidable accident.”
- The trial court entered judgment for the plaintiffs based on liability for unwholesome food, and the intermediate appellate court affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether a food manufacturer is liable to an ultimate consumer for personal injuries caused by unwholesome food without proof of negligence.
2. Whether liability may be imposed absent contractual privity between the manufacturer and the injured consumer.
3. Whether an implied obligation, imposed by law as a matter of public policy, supports recovery for injuries caused by contaminated food.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Texas affirmed the judgment for Mrs. Capps and her children.
- The court held that a manufacturer of food intended for human consumption is liable to the ultimate consumer for injuries caused by unwholesome food under an implied warranty imposed by law as a matter of public policy.
- The court upheld liability despite jury findings of no negligence and “unavoidable accident,” because the claim did not depend on fault.
- The court rejected privity as a bar where the manufacturer placed contaminated food into commerce for consumer use.

## Legal Principles

- A manufacturer who sells food intended for human consumption is subject to an implied warranty, imposed by law on public-policy grounds, that the food is fit and wholesome.
- This public-policy implied warranty is not the ordinary contract-based implied warranty; it is an obligation imposed to protect public health and life.
- Proof of negligence is not required where personal injury is caused by unwholesome food placed into commerce by the manufacturer.
- Contractual privity between the manufacturer and the ultimate consumer is not required for recovery for personal injuries caused by contaminated food.

## Conclusion

The court sustained recovery for injuries from contaminated packaged sausage by treating wholesomeness as a public-policy obligation imposed on food manufacturers, allowing ultimate consumers to recover without proving negligence and without showing contractual privity.


Jacob E. Decker & Sons, Inc. v. Capps, 164 S.W.2d 828 (Tex. 1942)