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A South Carolina woman recently won a monumental lawsuit against Walmart alleging negligence on the part of the retail store.

The incident took place back in June 2015,  April Jones went shopping at  Florence, SC, Walmart when she stepped on a rusty nail that pierced her foot. The lawsuit stated that Jones “passed through an area where several pallets were nearby when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her foot. Ms. Jones inspected her foot and observed that a rusty nail had pierced through her shoe and was lodged into her foot.”

Jones visited the hospital and had to have a hole cut in her foot to treat the wound. This treatment eventually led to multiple surgical amputations, resulting in her losing her right leg up to just above her knee.

Jones filed her lawsuit in May 2017. After hearing the case over five days, the jury deliberated for about an hour and a half.

Jones’s legal team was able to show that Walmart failed to adequately check their store aisle for safety.

“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,” a news release from the Anastopoulo said. “No such evidence was presented for the duration of the five-day-long trial.”

Trial counsel Roy T. Willey IV added, “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. We are forever grateful.”

Anastopoulo Law Firm, which represented Jones, said she has been in a wheelchair for six years. The $10 million verdict will allow her to buy a prosthetic and make her home more readily accessible.

In response to the court’s verdict, Walmart released a statement in response to the lawsuit, saying that they were saddened by what happened to Jones but still believe that they are not at fault.

“This was a tragic accident, and we are deeply sorry for Ms. April Jones’ injuries. We firmly believe that we were not negligent in this case. While we sympathize with Ms. Jones, we are pleased that the jury found there was no willful or wanton conduct on our part in this case,” the statement read.

More details from AWM:

The company plans to appeal the decision because they do not believe they should be held responsible for what happened. They also said that they plan to continue working with investigators during their investigation into how this incident occurred.

In addition to the millions of dollars awarded from Walmart, Jones was also taken care of by an additional $400,000 insurance policy that she had through her employer at the time – a subcontractor for Kohler Cabinetry in Florence County, South Carolina. The jury decided on this amount because they agreed with the defense counsel’s argument that this policy should be included and considered as part of the case.

The jury ultimately decided on a multi-million-dollar settlement for Jones, who will now have to live with her disability after she lost most of her right leg due to Walmart’s negligence.

Sources: AWM, TheHill

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