A South Carolina woman who stepped on a rusty nail and had to amputate her leg has won $10 million after a jury ruled Walmart was liable for her injury.
April Jones won the lawsuit against a Walmart store in Florence, S.C., on Tuesday after a five-day trial, ABC 7 reported, and will use the money to cover bills related to her injury. The jury deliberated for an hour and a half.
Jones was injured by a rusty nail in the main aisle of the store on June 26, 2015. The initial injury resulted in an infection, subsequent surgery, and eventually three separate amputations, leaving Jones without most of her leg. She has been wheelchair-bound for 6 years and her daily life was significantly interrupted as she lived alone and independently prior to the incident.
Jones filed the suit in 2017, two years after she stepped on a rusty nail lying on the floor near some pallets in the store.
The $10 million verdict will afford Jones the ability to purchase prosthetic, handicap-accessible addition to her home, and cover her medical expenses stemming from the injury.
The weakness of Walmart’s case, among other things, was their failure to produce a video that they claim showed their conforming behavior to a company policy calling for employees to perform regular safety sweeps. No such evidence was presented for the duration of the five-day-long trial. The jury deliberated for 100 minutes before returning the $10 million verdict.
More details of this story from AWM:
Walmart released a statement in response to the lawsuit, saying that they were saddened by what happened to Jones but still believe that they are not at fault.
“This was a tragic accident, and we are deeply sorry for Ms. April Jones’ injuries. We firmly believe that we were not negligent in this case. While we sympathize with Ms. Jones, we are pleased that the jury found there was no willful or wanton conduct on our part in this case,” the statement read.
The company plans to appeal the decision because they do not believe they should be held responsible for what happened. They also said that they plan to continue working with investigators during their investigation into how this incident occurred.
In addition to the millions of dollars awarded from Walmart, Jones was also taken care of by an additional $400,000 insurance policy that she had through her employer at the time – a subcontractor for Kohler Cabinetry in Florence County, South Carolina. The jury decided on this amount because they agreed with the defense counsel’s argument that this policy should be included and considered as part of the case.
The Anastopoulo trial team led by Roy Willey IV, Lane Jefferies, and Eric Poulin played a ferocious game of tug-of-war throughout the week, arguing sound theories of premises liability, to establish Walmart’s ultimate fault for the injuries April Jones sustained in their store.
Watch the video below for more details: