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Wal-Mart Stores5/26/2000
Frazier Manning sued Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., ("Wal-Mart"), alleging that Wal-Mart had negligently or wantonly caused several boxes of VCRs to fall from a riser and to injure him. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Manning. The circuit court entered a judgment on that verdict. Because we hold that the circuit court erred in denying Wal-Mart's motion for a judgment as a matter of law, we reverse and remand.
I.
In June 1995, Frazier Manning entered a Wal-Mart retail store in Columbus, Georgia, intending to purchase a VCR and a television set. While he was in the electronics department looking at a VCR, several boxes containing VCRs fell from a riser on which they had been stacked and struck Manning on his head and right shoulder. Immediately after the incident, Christie Veach, a Wal-Mart assistant manager, approached Manning. Veach asked Manning what had happened and whether he was hurt. Manning did not know what had caused the accident, but indicated that he did not believe he had suffered any serious injuries. Veach brought Manning a chair, and for about 40 minutes, he rested in it. Manning then went to the clothing department, purchased a shirt for his grandson, and left the Wal-Mart store.
The following Monday, Manning visited Dr. K.G. Edwards, a chiropractor, seeking treatment for pain in his neck and shoulder. Eventually, Dr. Edwards referred Manning to Dr. Fred Flandry for treatment of his shoulder and to Dr. Kenyon Rainer, a neurologist, for treatment of his neck. Dr. Rainer ordered an MRI test performed on Manning's neck. The MRI indicated that Manning had a herniated disk at the C-6/7 level. Dr. Flandry referred Manning to Dr. Kenneth Burkus. In April 1998, Dr. Burkus performed surgical fusion on Manning's neck.
In August 1996, Manning sued Wal-Mart in the Russell County, Alabama, Circuit Court, seeking $45,000 in damages for the injuries he claims to have suffered from being struck by the boxes containing the VCRs. Manning initially asserted only a simple negligence claim. He later amended his complaint, adding a claim of wantonness and demanding punitive damages. Manning presented no evidence at trial to indicate what caused the VCRs to fall from the riser and strike him. Rather, his evidence indicated only that the VCRs had fallen off the riser and that other objects had fallen off risers in the store over the past several years. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Manning, awarding him $300,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. After applying Georgia's statutory cap on punitive damages, the trial court entered a judgment in favor of Manning in the amount of $300,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. Wal-Mart appealed.
II.
Wal-Mart argues, among other things, that it was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law because, it says, Manning failed to present substantial evidence to support his claim that negligence or wantonness on the part of Wal-Mart proximately caused his injuries.
"A judgment as a matter of law is proper only where there is a complete absence of proof on a material issue or where there are no controverted questions of fact on which reasonable people could differ and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Locklear Dodge City, Inc. v. Kimbrell, 703 So. 2d 303, 304 (Ala. 1997) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). In reviewing the denial of a motion for a JML, this Court must view all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So. 2d 860, 863 (Ala. 1988).
The parties agree that Alabama's choice-of-law doctrine requires that the substantiv
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