Slipping, Sliding, Suing and Collecting

A federal appeals court has ordered Wal-Mart Stores (Bentonville, Ark.) to pay $1.1 million to a customer who slipped on cardboard left on the floor in a Michigan Sam's Club store.

The customer was retrieving a box to put his purchases in when he slipped on loose cardboard. He sued last year in federal court in Flint, Mich., after undergoing hip-replacement surgery, and was awarded $1.5 million in damages for a broken hip. The appeals court dismissed Wal-Mart's claims that those jurors had erred, though judges reduced the award to $1.1 million.

The appeals court judges noted that Wal-Mart acknowledged at trial that the customer slipped on cardboard in the store and Sam's Club employees weren't diligent about cleaning up the area. “One of Wal-Mart's employees conceded that letting customers go into the area to obtain boxes was an accident waiting to happen,” the judges noted in their decision.

Wal-Mart officials said they were disappointed with the appeals court's decision. “We felt the trial court award was out of proportion to the injury suffered,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz.

Just two weeks ago, The Home Depot (Atlanta) was ordered to pay $1.45 million to an injured customer, after a 70-pound bag of sand fell from an overhead rack in a Baton Rouge, La., store.