Couple sues Wal-Mart over broken grocery bag

Pittsburg Tribune Review ^ | 1/8/2004 | Rich Cholodofsky

[RolandBurnam]

By Rich Cholodofsky TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, January 8, 2004 A Mt. Pleasant Township couple wants Wal-Mart to pay for foot and toe injuries they claim were caused by canned goods and condiments that tumbled from an overfilled plastic grocery bag.

According to a two-count civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Westmoreland County, Brenda and Ronald Sager contend a plastic bag they brought home from the East Huntingdon Township store last month was deficient and overstuffed.

[MrConfettiMan]

> For consortium, use of her foot is not strictly needed.

Oh, I don't know...where's your imagination. ;-p

[AgentEcho]

I was at WalMart last night. I opened my door and there was an empty box from an early pregnancy test. Someone apparently couldn't wait...

Æ

[MrConfettiMan]

You Pittsburgh, people. First it was the snowstorms, now this nonsense. Sheesh.

[Tall_Texan]

"Bags tend to be underpacked," said NGA staffer Karen Vorhees.

Boy, howdy! They get packed for what a typical 80-year-old granny could carry in one sack. I'm sure that's because if they packed more in one bag, 80-year-old grannies would complain that the bags were too heavy.

Sounds like the person at Wal-Mart did a good job of packing and if anybody deserves to be sued, it's not Wal-Mart but the manufacturers of the plastic bag.

But, of course, we all know that Wal-Mart has deep pockets and a pattern of not contesting lawsuits. You reap what you sow.

[FreePaul]

My wife collects paper bags from a particular store because she likes them better than those at the store where she regularly shops. The bags are doubled before she goes to the store. She goes to one particular checker and has her favorite sacker fill and carry out the bags (when he isn't out of the country). The management isn't happy about filling bags with another store's name printed on them but they go along. I like it because my job is to carry the bags in when she gets home.

[MrConfettiMan]

> Try double-bagging. Or even tripling.

The result of this lawsuit will cause all stores to start doing just that sending the environazis crazy. This could be fun if it weren't so asinine. :)

[HungarianGypsy]

When the baggers grocery stores used to ask, "Paper or plastic," my dad would often try to be funny and say, "Put it in a box." After saying that once he was busy talking to the clerk and didn't notice the bagger left. He had taken my dad seriously and had gotten a box for the groceries.

[Tall_Texan]

Pracitce safe food nooky. Use condiments. ;)

Mayonnaise. Mustard. I believe if they hadn't used condiments, they wouldn't be in this mess. ;-P

[Rebelbase]

Agreed about the horsewhipping.

Also, lets horsewhip the baggers who tie the plastic bag handles in a knot.

If I cut myself using a knife to get the bag open because its tied in a knot..........

[ItsOurTimeNow]

broke open when the Sagers returned home and started to put away their groceries. That's when the handle tore and the bottom of the bag broke, the Sagers claim.

A) Didn't happen on Wal-Mart property

B) What's to say they didn't put all of that stuff into one bag once it was in the trunk, or on their way home.

End of story.

[Mark17]

I hope they are not dumb enough to think they are convincing anyone, except maybe a jury, which is normally in the same IQ range, based on current jury shopping trends.

Unfortunately, the jury's IQ range, is why many of these dirt bags win their law suits. I hate to say it, but I am sure they will make some money.

[FreePaul]

If this gets suit very far along I can see at least two Failure Analysis experts making a lot of money. I haven't been to Pittsburgh in a long time but I'm sure that I could qualify as an expert on plastic bags in a relatively short time.

[Cronos]

Get your own bag!

[fml]

Unnnnnbelievable.

[kegler4]

Dang, I've consortiumed with my wife when I had a sprained ankle and another time when she had a strained knee.

[gracex7]

These people should be horsewhipped.

Well, they were already Miracle Whipped!!

[HeadOn]

"Those bags are good for 10 or 15 pounds," Kubica said.

They do have a point - those are fluid ounces listed, and all items are heavier than water. A quick calculation using water says there were at LEAST 8 pounds in that sack. With the heavy items probably boosting it somewhere in the 12 to 15 pound range. Easy enough to check...

Still this is a muy stupido lawsuit, as many are, and should be thrown out. I say throw the case out. Offer to pay the medical bills, fire the sacker, and tell them to take a flying leap.

[MotleyGirl70]

Let's try this again. The duplicated thread was pulled.

We live in a sue happy society.

I heard this on the radio this morning.

Man blames cable firm for TV addiction

[xzins]

If they can prove that the bag was defective, and that was why the injury occurred, then they should be compensated for actual damages and nothing more.

There is no way I believe that actual damages were 30,000 bucks.

I'm thinking the doctor or insurance company they used can tell you the actual cost....probably in the neighborhood of 300 bucks. If a day of work was lost, then add another 250 bucks.

This is a 500 dollar case.

The judge should then insist on court costs from these numbnutz and their frivolous lawyer.

[HeadOn]

DISCLAIMER - Come to think of it, some of those heavier items MAY be ounces, as in weight, and not fluid ounces...

Still - the little old ladies in the grocery store used to make me unpack heavy bags and re-pack in two or three bags if I put too much in. Oh, to be a teenager again.......