A court has awarded a South Carolina woman $10 million for injuries she sustained inside a Walmart store. The woman sustained serious injuries after she stepped on a rusty nail in a local Walmart outlet in Florence, South Carolina.
Lawyers at Anastopoulo Law Firm said their client, April Jones, won her lawsuit against Walmart. Jones had to undergo multiple surgeries after her foot got infected because of her wound. Jones was reportedly shopping in the main aisle of one of Walmart's outlets in Florence when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her foot.
Doctors eventually had to amputate her leg because of the infection. She first had her second toe on her right foot removed before three more toes were amputated. After a lengthy five-day trial, jurors finally gave their verdict, awarding Jones the $10 million. The jury reportedly deliberated on the case for about 100 minutes before coming up with their decision.
"The jury sent a message to Walmart that if you come into Florence County and injure one of their own, they will make sure that person is taken care of," Anastopoulo Law Firm lawyer, Roy Willey, said in a statement.
During the trial, lawyers argued that Jones had suffered physically and financially because of the incident. They said that Jones was forced to use a wheelchair for the last six years, and she has had to rely on her adult children for support.
According to her lawyers, Jones is planning to use the money to buy a new prosthetic leg. She also plans to renovate her house to become more accessible to wheelchairs. The bulk of the funds will then be used to cover her medical expenses, which had been piling up over the years.
In a separate case against Walmart, the company was ordered to pay an Alabama woman $2.1 million in damages after it wrongfully accused her of shoplifting. A Mobile County jury gave its verdict on Monday in favor of Lesleigh Nurse. The Semmes City resident was accused of shoplifting and consequently arrested. When her case was dismissed, she was allegedly threatened by the company.
In her lawsuit, Nurse said that she was stopped from leaving a Walmart with her groceries even though she had already paid for the items. It was later found out that the scanning device on the self-checkout lane had malfunctioned, but workers refused to believe that she had paid for her groceries.
After her case was dismissed, Nurse said she received multiple letters from a Florida law firm on behalf of Walmart, asking that she pay a settlement or face a civil lawsuit.
