Posted on 11/09/2017 11:00:13 AM PST by simpson96
He was buying a watermelon at Walmart when he fell. Now a jury in Alabama has awarded him more than $7 million.
Henry Walker, a retired Army sergeant, got his foot caught in a wooden pallet as he was getting the watermelon at the Walmart store in Phenix City in July 2015, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported.
Walker fell and broke his foot and hip. The jury awarded him $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
“It was a fair verdict because Walmart just didn’t care,” said Charlie Gower, the lead attorney for Walker. “They should have had something to cover up that pallet so someone’s foot couldn’t get caught in it, and they didn’t.”
(Excerpt) Read more at kansas.com ...
I have a paper cut. There was no warning label on the paper...
America is the only country in the world that allows these kinds of lawsuits.
I wouldn’t have given him a dime. The pallet clearly visible.
W should win on appeal.
No surprise that he crashed but the aircraft manufacturer was held liable. Probably for not having a label "Do not try to fly the aircraft from other than the designated seating positions."
it is crazy.
I fell at Walmart. I slipped in a spilled milkshake. After i got up, i told the door greeter what happened and went home. It did not occur to me to sue Walmart. I was embarrassed that i fell in the first place!
I can pretty much guarantee that Walmart self insures. It also will not pay up. Walmart consumers and Walmart staffers will pay through higher prices and lower wages. So in other words the poor will pay.
You are not entitled to a healthy victim.
I can see actual damages and costs but 7.5m ?
No, pallets should not be open and on the floor...but 7.5m ...lordy
Lottery win by Jury. Jurors that do this need to be beaten with a club. They are nothing but thieves.
Nowhere in the article did it say that he would never be able to walk again.
Also he was as negligent as Walmart. He stood on the pallet when he could have reached over. He could also have asked for help.
I’d rather not break my foot and hip. I would never do this.
I’m sure Walmart has at least a $1M deductible if not $5M. Also, Alabama is known for high jury awards like this. Appeals will go on for years.
If the accident is really severe with dead and wounded and lots of property damage, the insurance carrier will offer its policy limit and walk away.
More importantly, what kind of "jury" would award someone such a huge amount of money for an accident?
“They should have had something to cover up that pallet so someone’s foot couldn’t get caught in it, and they didn’t.”
They did ambulance chaser. It is called a big box of watermelons. Only a small part of the pallet would have even been visible. That part is exposed, but your idiot client was too feeble minded and clumsy to avoid sticking his foot into the void between the wood slats and then was too uncoordinated to retrieve his foot from the void without causing himself severe injury.
BTW this is the SECOND major jury award this year for this guy. He already collected a seven figure verdict from a bail bonds agency for mistaken identity.
Lesson: Your business must do everything (and then some) to make it idiot proof. Customers will have to endure the tedious restrictions, costs, and inconveniences that this will present.
Was he billed for the busted up watermelon?
You broke it, you bought it!
they do try to all the time- they also intentionally spill drinks in the isles and ‘slip’ and ‘hurt’ themselves too-
Correct this is his second big haul (rip off) via our legal system. I would love to see a photo of this idiot. I have my suspicions. And I know how WalMart lays out its watermelons.
Of course those cardboard boxes are on pallets. How else you move a large container of watermelons.
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