Way back in 2012, a 60-year-old woman was shopping in a Dollar General store outside of the state of California. The woman was walking down the aisles when she stepped in a puddle of spilled laundry detergent. The woman slipped and fell, fracturing her leg and shoulder. The injuries she suffered required numerous surgeries to fix, and the medical bills associated with the procedures totaled roughly half a million dollars.
The woman sued Dollar General within a month, and the case proceeded through the legal system for four years. During that time, the two sides tried to engage in mediation, but multiple sessions yielded no agreement. Eventually a jury ruled that the woman would be awarded $1.7 million for the incident. That ruling was made in late 2016, and Dollar General appealed it.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Alabama Supreme Court heard the appeal and upheld the lower court’s decision. The woman will receive the $1.7 million reward.
There are a couple of lessons to learn from this story. The first is that civil lawsuits can take a very long time to proceed through the legal system. You should be ready for this if you have been injured as a result of a slip and fall or in a premises liability incident.
The other lesson here is the severity of the injuries that can occur when you slip and fall on someone else’s property. Restaurants, companies, and other businesses are supposed to have clear processes in place to ensure safety and to clean up spills when they occur. Failing to do this can lead to innocent patrons enduring incredible pain and suffering.
Source: AL.com, “$1.7 million verdict upheld in Dollar General slip-and-fall case,” Lawrence Specker, Jan. 15, 2018
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