$280K judgment after a shopper slipped on a gift bag in a cluttered store aisle

A Jefferson County jury in Fayette returned a $400,000 verdict for a shopper who fell in the aisle of a discount variety store, then cut it by 30% for her own share of fault. The judgment against the store was $280,000, the figure shown here.

The shopper, 45, came in for paper towels. That aisle was blocked with merchandise, so she went down the party goods aisle instead. She stepped back to let another customer pass and slipped on a silver gift bag that had apparently fallen from a shopping bin on the floor. She struck the shelving as she fell and was later found to have a rotator cuff injury that a doctor said will need surgery.

The store argued it did not create the hazard and had no notice of it, since there was no proof of how long the bag had been on the floor or how it got there. The shopper answered that the store’s overall condition was the problem: merchandise kept in floor bins that customers could knock loose. A sheriff’s deputy who was in the store when she fell testified about how disorganized it was.

After a two-day trial the jury awarded $17,000 in past medical bills, $35,000 for future care and $348,000 for pain and suffering, then assigned 30% of the fault to the shopper. We have not found an appeal.