Mancilla v. Walmart
Jan 16, 2012OUTCOME: Jury Verdict, Additur and costs totaling $125,000
A customer's child tossed hair gel out of a shopping cart which broke and spilled on the floor. The customer notified a cashier of the spill who did not follow procedure and go clean the spill. Instead ... she handed the customer a roll of paper towels. The customer smeered the spill all over and walked away after two mintues. Ms. Mancilla was the first to walk through the spill, slipped, fell and broke her wrist requiring a surgery and two more in the future. Walmart management discovered what happened and did not comply with its own investigative requirements to cover up what happened. Even though their own employee admitted she did not do what she was supposed to do and admitted she knew of the spill, throughout the entire lawsuit and trial Walmart insisted that no employee knew of the spill and intentionally avoided taking written witness statements including the negligent employee. Walmart did not disclose the names of all of the managers and employees that appeared on a video of the incident. They brought a manager to trial who told the jury that there were rolls of paper towels all over the store that a customer could just pick up to clean a spill and no employee would ever know. It was a dispecable display of corporate arrogance by and through their attorneys in their desperate attempt to disenfranchise a 60 year old housekeeper from getting the medical care and compensation she needed. SHAME ON WALMART.
