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Branch v. Wal-Mart Stores12/26/2001
AFFIRMED.
Defendant, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ("Wal-Mart"), appeals from a judgment in a personal injury suit filed by plaintiff, Hope Branch ("Branch"), for injuries she received from falling merchandise. Branch appeals the amount of damages awarded. We affirm.
Facts
On January 2, 1995, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Branch, her teenage son, and his friend were shopping in the sporting goods section of a Wal-Mart store in Kenner, Louisiana. According to Branch and the two boys, Branch was standing in the aisle of the store while the two boys were trying on hunting apparel when an ice chest fell from an upper shelf and struck her on the head. All three testified that there were few shoppers in the sporting goods area that night and, in fact, they had been alone on the aisle for about ten to fifteen minutes. They also testified that none of them had bumped the shelf that held the ice chest or attempted to remove the ice chest before it fell.
Branch testified that, about thirty seconds after the ice chest fell, a Wal-Mart employee, Herman Eicke, arrived to investigate. She reportedly told him that she did not need to speak to a manager because she was "okay" but, a few minutes later, after she began to experience pain, she returned and asked him to contact a manager. James White, the assistant manager on duty, took Branch's complaint and requested a statement about the incident from Eicke. White later took photographs of the aisle where the incident occurred.
A "couple of days" after the incident, Branch saw a physician for pain in her shoulders and neck and tingling in her arms. After visiting two other physicians and receiving physical therapy for her injuries, Branch was referred to a neurosurgeon who recommended a cervical fusion.
Branch subsequently underwent a cervical fusion, which relieved the pain in her neck and shoulders. Branch testified that, although her pain has subsided, she still has some physical limitations as a result of the cervical fusion.
On September 27, 1995, Branch filed suit for injuries to her neck and back. At trial, Wal-Mart denied liability and challenged Branch's version of the events. Wal-Mart suggested that another customer, using an unattended ladder, caused the ice chest to fall on Branch. Although no store employees witnessed the incident, Eicke's statement indicated that he heard a loud noise on one of the aisles. When he arrived, a "female customer said a male customer knocked an ice chest onto her head." Eicke also stated that the male customer admitted that he used a ladder, which was still unopened, to get the ice chest himself. Eicke recalled "tying up" the ladder on the aisle. Eicke did not ask the male customer his name before he left with the ice chest.
When White, the manager on duty, testified, he stated that the ice chest that had fallen was still in the middle of the aisle when he investigated the incident. He testified that Eicke reported that an ice chest had fallen and hit a female customer on the head. He denied that Eicke reported to him that an unknown male customer using an unattended ladder caused the ice chest to fall on the female customer's head. The manager's report of the incident does not mention anyone other than Branch and simply states, "Customer said ice chest fell from top shelf and hit her on the top of her head."
At the close of the evidence, the jury found Wal-Mart 100% at fault for the accident. The jury awarded Branch $90,000 in general damages and $25,353.58 for medical expenses as well as $2000 to her husband for loss of consortium.
On appeal, Wal-Mart contends that the jury manifestly erred in finding it at fau
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