DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.
Hinman V. Wal-Mart (vocational disability)
Plaintiff Karen Hinman was a merchandise/inventory clerk who organized and scanned cassettes, CDs and books at sev- eral Wal-Mart stores for her employer. She was not an employee of Wal-Mart. On 21 January 1993, Mrs. Hinman was at work in the Wal-Mart store in Lafayette, Tennessee, scanning merchandise in an Electronics Department aisle. Two Wal-Mart employees were adjusting shelves attached to a 6.5' riser directly behind her, from the other side of the riser. On the top of that riser, boxed 19" television sets weighing 25-60 pounds each were stacked three-deep atop each other, to a height of approximately 12'. While working on the shelves, the Wal-Mart employees caused the television sets to fall over into the aisle where Mrs. Hinman was working. One or more of the television sets struck Mrs. Hinman from behind, knocking her to the floor. She sustained a severe bruise to the back of her right leg and injuries to both knees.
Pain in her right calf steadily spread upward, into her thigh and eventually into her back. Plaintiff returned to work and continued to work in pain for several months, without relief. A neurosurgeon opined, seven months post-injury, that she had sustained a ruptured disc at the L4-5 level, caused by the impact of the television set. He assessed a 5% permanent impairment to the body as a whole and permanent lifting restrictions of 20-30 pounds, with no more than 10 pounds repetitively, as a result of that injury.
Thereafter, Plaintiff continued to experience pain in both legs and along her spine, with only temporary relief from epidural steroid injections. The Defendant's neurosurgeon testi- fied that he could not determine the cause of her ruptured disc and would not assign her permanent impairment.
Plaintiff's vocational disability expert testified that she had lost 45% of the jobs originally available to her as a result of her back injury. Wal-Mart denied negligence, proximate cause, and damages.
At the conclusion of a 2.5 day trial beginning 01 Aug- ust 1995, a 7-person jury awarded Karen Hinman $2,095,000.00 and her husband, Donald Hinman, $300,000.00 for loss of consortium. A motion for new trial is pending.
If you would like Kelly, Kelly & Allman to evaluate your potential case, please fill out the case evaluation form below:
Kelly, Kelly and Allman
629 East Main Street
Hendersonville, TN 37075
Phone: (615) 824-3703
Fax: (615) 824-2674
Toll Free: (888) 824-3400
Get Directions
Office
Kelly, Kelly and Allman
629 East Main Street
Hendersonville, TN 37075
Phone: (615) 824-3703
Fax: (615) 824-2674
Toll Free: (888) 824-3400
