$472,500 judgment after a shopper slipped on a puddle of water in a big-box store aisle

A federal jury in Nashville found a big-box store 90% at fault after a shopper slipped on water in one of its aisles, and the court entered judgment for $472,500.

In November 2011 the shopper was pushing her cart out of an aisle when her right foot slipped on water on the floor. She felt a pop in her knee, and it was undisputed at trial that she slipped and twisted it. Store employees cleaned up the spill after she reported it.

Nothing showed how the water got there. The store argued that without that, the jury could only guess how long it had been on the floor. But the store’s surveillance video showed one of its employees walking past the spot minutes before the slip. An employee also photographed the spill, and the store did not keep the photographs.

After a trial that ended November 7, 2014, the jury found the store 90% at fault and the shopper 10% at fault, and set her damages at $525,000. The court entered judgment for 90% of that, $472,500. The trial court denied the store’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, and in January 2016 the Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding that a jury could reasonably find the store should have known about the water. A satisfaction of judgment was filed later that month.