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Littleton v. Wal-Mart Stores12/6/1999
392 (La.1993); Frelow v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 93-759 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/2/94); 631 So.2d 632.
In this case the Littletons claim that Wal-Mart became liable when Vicki was struck by a case of paper towels as the result of the negligence of its employee, Williams. Littleton did not fall, but she was injured by falling merchandise. However, Subsection A of La.R.S. 9:2800.6 provides the general duty of a merchant relating to aisles, passageways, and floors and is not a duty limited to injuries caused by falls and provides:
A. A merchant owes a duty to persons who use his premises to exercise reasonable care to keep his aisles, passageways, and floors in a reasonably safe condition. This duty includes a reasonable effort to keep the premises free of any hazardous conditions which reasonably might give rise to damage.
In order to recover in an action against a merchant, a store patron who is injured by falling merchandise must prove that a hazardous condition or defect existed, presenting an unreasonable risk of harm which caused injury and may do so by circumstantial evidence. Lopez v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 94-2059 (La.App. 4 Cir. 8/13/97); 700 So.2d 215, writ denied, 97-2522 (La. 12/19/97); 706 So.2d 457; Leonard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 97-2154 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/6/98); 721 So.2d 1059.
A premise hazard is a condition which causes an unreasonable risk of harm to customers under the circumstances. A plaintiff may prove the existence of a premise hazard by circumstantial evidence. Once a plaintiff makes a showing that a hazard existed, the burden shifts to the merchant to demonstrate that it used reasonable care to avoid such hazards. Lopez, 700 So.2d at 217-218 (citations omitted).
In support of their motion for summary judgment, the Littletons introduced several pages of the deposition testimony of Williams. Williams explained that he was stacking paper towels at the time of the accident. He said that on one of the back corner stacks were cases of Zee paper towels, which were a little shorter than the boxes of Bounty paper towels. Williams then described how he placed a case of Bounty paper towels on top of another case of Bounty which was sitting on top of a case of Zee paper towels. He described how one corner of the Bounty case that he was stacking was sticking out over the Zee case which caused the weight to shift, and the case of Bounty tumbled off the pallet. Williams admitted that Vicki did not do anything to cause the case to fall.
The Littletons clearly proved that a hazard existed in the manner in which the paper towel boxes were stacked. It is obvious that Williams' actions created an unreasonable risk of harm which immediately resulted in one of the boxes falling into the aisle hitting an unsuspecting patron who was shopping in the aisle and who was without fault. Wal-Mart offered no evidence that it had exercised reasonable care to avoid this type of accident. There is no question in this case but that Williams' actions caused the case of paper towels to fall. With summary judgment being favored and there being no evidence to contradict these material facts, we find the trial court did not err in granting the Littletons' motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability.
GENERAL DAMAGES
The judgment total was $204,529.88. In its reasons for judgment the trial court itemized: medical expenses of $22,291.88, lost wages of $32,238, and general damages of $150,000.
Wal-Mart claims that the award of $150,000 for general damages is excessive. It claims that Vicki's injury was not severe enough to warrant the general damage award.
Pursuant to Youn v. Maritime
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