Confidential

Facts

On Jan. 3, 2005, plaintiff was knocked to the ground by a handtruck stacked with milk crates on her way out of a store. The milk crates were being delivered to defendant's store. Plaintiff was transported to a local emergency room where she was diagnosed with a fractured femoral head. She underwent surgery for partial hip-replacement the next morning.
Defendant store allows co-defendant vendor to deliver dairy products through the store's customer entrance during business hours. The store was aware that the vendor parked its delivery truck in a clearly-marked fire lane when making deliveries.
The delivery driver admitted in a contemporaneously-prepared report of the accident that he did not see plaintiff prior to striking her with the handtruck. At a deposition, the driver stated he saw plaintiff "reading something" just before he hit her.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that defendants were jointly liable for the damages caused. Plaintiff further contended that the defendant store's liability stemmed from creating the incentives for deliveries to be made through the front customer doors during business hours instead of to the receiving area, where deliveries occurred until March 2004. Delivering goods through the front customer doors, plaintiff contended, created a hazard. Plaintiff also contended that the defendant vendor's liability stemmed from the practice of pushing heavily-loaded handtrucks through customer areas during business hours, and illegally parking in a clearly-marked fire lane abutting the store.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that they were not liable because plaintiff was not observing where she was walking. Further, defendants contended that no standard of care was breached by allowing delivery through the front door of the store.

Settlement Discussions

Court-ordered mediation initially did not result in settlement. The case was ultimately settled 13 months after the accident 10 days before trial.

Specials in Evidence

$73,129