Here’s a nice summary of an important trial result in Portland.  Lois Whitmore, a healthy and active 78-year old Wal-Mart shopper suffered life-changing injuries when a Wal-Mart fixture fell and broke her foot.  Before the injuries, Ms. Whitmore walked several miles a day, and after each step caused her pain.

Kudos to my friend and colleague, Greg Kafoury, for leading the way. Apparently the unanimous jury assessed her harms and losses to the dime requested by her attorneys, as they reportedly granted her every dollar that she sought.

Kafoury has a special way with cases against retailers. He’s had some marvelous results against Fred Meyer stores in the past.

The rule that Wal-Mart violated is a simple one. Retail businesses go to great lengths to get shoppers in the door. The rules require that retailers provide for the safety of shoppers. It’s a simple and sensible rule. If they’re going to invite you in to spend your money, they have to be responsible for the condition of the store.

Wal-Mart apparently violated the simple rule of retail. But according to the news report, they went one step further. Wal-Mart employees apparently testified under oath that Ms. Whitmore was sitting on an electric scooter shortly after they learned she was injured. They claimed that she had bumped over the display and caused her own injury.

But here’s the problem. Not a word of that appeared in their incident report, and instead that report–which would have been written at or near the time of the injury–reportedly said that she was sitting on a bench near the display, not on a scooter.

Seems like this is one of those trials that could have been avoided had Wal-Mart simply taken responsibility for their customer’s harms and losses. Guess they needed to hear it from the jury.

David Sugerman

Tags: injury, Oregon trial, Portland personal injury lawyer, shopper, sugerman, Wal-Mart