Jury Awards $1.725 Million In Second Dollar General Personal Injury Lawsuit Loss
A jury awarded $1.725 million in a personal injury lawsuit to a woman who slipped and fell in clear liquid laundry detergent that was in the aisle of a Dollar General store in Mobile County, Alabama. The woman, who was 60 years old when she fell on the floor in July 2012, said she suffered leg and shoulder fractures that caused her to undergo eight surgeries, 395 doctor visits and more than $470,000 in medical bills, according to a report in AL.com. The woman is now permanently disabled, according to the personal injury complaint.
Prior to rendering their September 21 verdict, jurors heard testimony regarding Dollar General’s corporate policy of conducting safety inspections. While the stores are open 14 hours a day, employees are required to make safety inspections for 10 minutes each day. Dollar General’s safety inspections, described as “informal, undocumented and not verified by a supervisor,” were compared to safety inspections in other stores in the Mobile County area. Testimony “made clear” that Dollar General’s safety inspection method was both “unsafe and unacceptable,” according to the AL.com report.
[al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/09/alabama_jury_returns_1725_mill.html]
This is the second largest jury verdict this year against a Dollar General store in Alabama. in April, a Lauderdale County jury returned a $925,000 verdict, the largest verdict in the county’s history, AL.com reported. The jury’s awarding of compensatory damages stemmed from a personal injury case filed by a delivery truck driver from Kentucky in 2013.
According to the complaint, the delivery driver was transporting cargo from the Dollar General distribution center in Scottsville, Kentucky to a store in Florence, Alabama in 2011. The driver said that he opened the door of the trailer to unload the cargo and the cargo fell down on him. The driver said his head, neck, back, shoulder and other body parts were injured. As a result, he had to under extensive medical treatment and incurred medical expenses, according to the complaint.
[al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/alabama_jury_returns_925000_ve.html]
The delivery driver’s lawsuit said Dollar General was responsible for packing the trailer. The complaint purported that the trailer was loaded in a “dangerous and unsafe manner,” and the way the cargo was loaded caused heavy totes to fall and injured the driver.
Personal injury lawsuits seek compensation for serious injuries caused by the negligence of others. Victims of life-altering injuries may be awarded compensation by a company or individual who caused the harm through a settlement between the parties or by a jury verdict. Plaintiffs ask for compensation for lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering and other conditions in personal injury complaints. The statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Ohio is two years so a decision should be made promptly on whether to pursue a personal injury claim.
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