## Facts

- Phyllis R. Beck purchased a prepackaged sirloin steak from a Kroger grocery store and served it for dinner the same day.
- While eating, Beck felt sharp pain in the back of her throat, pulled the food from her mouth, and vomited violently.
- Beck found an inch-long metal object in the steak: the tip of a hypodermic needle used for injecting animals, which punctured her throat (soft palate).
- Beck did not seek medical treatment; she self-treated by gargling for about a month, and the wound healed without scarring.
- Beck testified to ongoing fear and anxiety about eating meat and an inability to enjoy meat after the incident.
- Beck’s husband corroborated the dinner incident and described continuing effects on family mealtimes.
- A small claims court awarded Beck $2,700 for mental anguish and suffering; Kroger appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to show a contemporaneous physical injury supporting damages for mental anguish.
2. Whether the $2,700 award for mental anguish and suffering was excessive.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the judgment for Beck.
- The court held that the puncture to Beck’s throat, accompanied by pain and vomiting, was sufficient contemporaneous physical injury to permit mental-anguish damages.
- The court held the $2,700 award was not excessive and did not reflect prejudice, passion, partiality, corruption, or other improper considerations.

## Legal Principles

- For mental-anguish damages tied to physical injury, the injury need not be permanent or substantial; slight injury may suffice.
- Once an injury is shown, whether it caused the claimed mental distress is a question for the factfinder.
- Expert medical testimony and medical treatment are not required to prove the occurrence of an injury or its compensable consequences when credible lay testimony supports them.
- When any physical injury is shown, the factfinder may consider mental suffering, including anxiety and fear of potential consequences, in assessing damages.
- Appellate review of damages is deferential; an award is reversed as excessive only if it indicates improper motivation by the factfinder.
- Uncertainty as to the precise amount of damages is resolved against the wrongdoer.

## Conclusion

The court upheld an award for mental anguish arising from a foreign object in food, ruling that a brief but actual throat puncture provided sufficient contemporaneous injury and that the factfinder could reasonably compensate the resulting fear, anxiety, and loss of enjoyment of eating without medical or expert proof, and without the award being deemed excessive.


Kroger Co. v. Beck, 375 N.E.2d 640 (Ind. Ct. App. 1978)