Jury Awards $10 Million To Woman Who Stepped On Rusty Nail At Walmart. Photo courtesy of Anastopoulo Law Firm/ File Photo by: zz/BBB/STAR MAX/IPx 2020 8/31/20 The Walmart store in Cushing, Oklahoma. (Cushing, OK)
Back in June 2015, April Jones stepped on a rusty nail while shopping at a Walmart in Florence, South Carolina. She sued and a jury awarded her $10 million on Nov. 30, 2021.
Her injury led to multiple surgeries and eventually she had to have her leg amputated as a result of an infection caused by the rusty nail.
The trial lasted five days, during which Jones’ ordeal was relayed. First, she had to have the second toe on her right foot amputated. Then three more toes had to be removed. Finally, doctors had to amputate her leg above the knee as a result of the infection.
Jones’s lawyers told the jury that she has been in a wheelchair for the last six years and has to rely on her adult children as the result of the injury at Walmart.
The jury deliberated for about 100 minutes before awarding Jones $10 million, The New York Post reported.
Walmart has 4,743 stores throughout the U.S. as of Jan. 31, 2021. The nation’s largest employer, the retail giant has a net worth of $405.6 billion, according to Go Banking Rates.
Jones said plans to use the money to buy a prosthetic, make her home more wheelchair-friendly and cover her medical expenses, according to her lawyers.
Many on Twitter thought the judgment was extreme.
“I blame the greedy slip & fall lawyers for this overreach,” Biggety @burner_social tweeted.
But others noted the severity of Jones’ injury.
“Okay y’all let’s nottttt make this a repeat of the hot coffee case. She had her LEG AMPUTATED! Duty of care!!” tweeted Claire Smith @charringtonaireMLSmith.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?
“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),” said Roy Willey, one of Jones’ attorneys from the Anastopoulo Law Firm, in a statement.
“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,” the news release said. “No such evidence was presented for the duration of the five-day-long trial.”
