Facts

Plaintiff Linda Nellums was shopping at a Ross Dress For Less department store. She stepped on a clear plastic clothing hanger, slipped and fell. The plaintiff sued the store's parent company, Ross Stores Inc. for premises liability.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiff testified that as many as 10 hangers were on the floor in the same aisle at the time of the incident. She claimed that the defendant failed to maintain a safe environment for patrons and that employees left items on the floor for extended periods of time. The defendant had lost its inspection records for the day of the incident, which the plaintiff argued established the defendant's negligence in that the store employees did not perform maintenance checks that day. The plaintiff denied having a violent encounter with her son or that such injured her back.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
A former manager testified that store policy calls for a maintenance check, or "recovery" once an hour, or once every half hour on weekends, where employees go through the store and put merchandise back on racks and organize items.

The defendant argued that it did not need to produce written record of the store recovery records for that day because the manager remembered what the employees were doing at the time. The defendant emphasized that there were no witnesses to the plaintiff's fall, and that the plaintiff could not produce any concrete evidence that she fell.

Finally, the defendant disputed the cause of the plaintiff's injuries. It pointed out that 13 days after plaintiff allegedly fell, she had an extremely violent altercation with her son. She filed a restraining order against him, which included a detailed description of the fight, and her resultant back injuries. It also pointed out that the plaintiff never reported the fight to her treating doctors.

Settlement Discussions

The plaintiff demanded $450,000, defendant offered a waiver of costs.

Specials in Evidence

After conservative treatment was ineffective, plaintiff underwent a fusion at L4-5 and L5-S1. Many of her expenses were paid by Medi-Cal, but plaintiff sought an additional $68,000.

Damages

The plaintiff sought $382,000 for her past and future pain and suffering.

Injuries

The plaintiff claimed that she landed on her left hip after falling, and struck her head and left elbow on the ground. An MRI taken 11 days later showed that the plaintiff had a degenerative spine condition, bulging disc and annular tear. She added complaints of lower back pain, sciatica, leg numbness, and leg weakness 23 days later.

Result

The jury in a 9-3 verdict, found the defendant was not negligent in its maintenance, operation or control of the store.

Other Information

The defendant's motion to exclude mention of the lost records was not granted. The defendant's motion for nonsuit after opening statements and at the close of plaintiff's case were also denied. Originally the judge precluded any mention of the domestic disturbance, but after the plaintiff's counsel attempted to rehabilitate her on the stand, the evidence was admitted. The defendant will file a cost bill.

Deliberation

3.5 hours

Poll

9-3

Length

five days