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.

[HeadOn]

I'm a firm believer in "Loser Pays" lawsuits... But the lawyers, aka Congress, would never allow it to get there.

[night reader]

These people should be horsewhipped.

A whole bunch'a this country's problems would be solved if horse whippin' came back in vogue!

[CharacterCounts]

I'm a firm believer in "Loser Pays" lawsuits... But the lawyers, aka Congress, would never allow it to get there.

Loser pays and other derivitives have nothing to do with Congress. These are State suits pursuant to State laws.

In Michigan, we have a process wherby your case is evaulated by three lawyers fairly early in the litigation process. They assign a dollar value to the case. If both sides accept the amount ... the case is over. If a perty rejects, however, that party must improve his or her position by 10% at trial or pay the other sides actual attorney fees and costs.

While not exactly "loser pays" it is more like the "unreasonable one pays" In this case, the consortium number would likely be zero. Toss in actual medicals (probably less than ($500.00) and Pain and suffering (another $500.00 bucks and the evaluation recommendation would be about $1,000.00.

[robertpaulsen]

"The bag, which contained a 32-ounce jar of Miracle Whip, a 46-ounce bottle of ketchup, three 15-ounce cans of fruit, an 18-ounce bottle of ranch dressing and a 12-ounce bottle of mustard, broke open when the Sagers returned home and started to put away their groceries."

I was curious, so I duplicated the above as close as I could.

I filled a used blue plastic Wal-Mart bag I found laying around with a 32-ounce jar of Hellmann's mayonnaise, a 64-ounce bottle of Heinz ketchup (some gone), one 29-ounce can of peaches and one 15-ounce can of peach halves, a 16-ounce bottle of Newman's Own Caesar dressing and a 19-ounce plastic bottle of Plochman's mustard.

11 pounds. I carried it all over the house, and it never felt like it was about to break.

If they do this with a jury, there is no way they'll go against Wal-Mart.

[robertpaulsen]

Also, one other thing I noted. When I was carrying this 11-pound bag by the handles, it's only about 8 - 10 inches above the ground. Probably would be less if a shorter person is carrying it.

Now, if the bag broke when she lifted it to the counter at home, well, that's one thing. But since the damage was limited to her right foot (and we can assume she was right-handed), I think it broke when she was carrying it. (Otherwise, they would have fallen everywhere.)

Ligament damage and broken bones from an 8 inch drop? Fishy.

[antiRepublicrat]

Wal-Mart always underpacks their bags, leaving me with far to many bags to try to grab onto.

[antiRepublicrat]

He's blaming Wal-Mart for not getting any nooky????? Dang! My husband usually just blames the alcohol!!

Loss of consortium is in itself a legitimate legal claim and often added to injury suits (which in themselves are often baseless).

[TomB]

Pracitce safe food nooky. Use condiments. ;)

I can't, I'm Catholic. We aren't allowed to use condiments.

:-)))))

[Ciexyz]

I have a beef with Target. They seem reluctant to part with any of their super-large bags. You buy something big and they always say, here's a sticker for that, you don't need a bad, do you? And I always answer, Why yes, I do want a bag, thank you.

[TexasCajun]

Bagging groceries is a lost art!

..there was no such thing as plastic bags when I was a sacker in high-school.

[KevinDavis]

Perfect case for Tort Reform.

[manic4organic]

I don't think anyone should look up attorney John Scales or plaintiffs Brenda and Ronald Sager in the Pittsburgh area phone book and give them a piece of their mind. Nope. Don't do it.

[upchuck]

We really, really need tort reform. With "looser pays" as the centerpiece.

[Norman Conquest]

For a banged-up foot? Mebbe he's one'a them fetishists. :)

Certainly he's not a good Baptist.

Q: Why don't Baptists make love standing up?
A: It might lead to dancing.

[Grig]

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

Perhaps that has nothing to do with the foot, but rather he needed the bag to put over her head.

[Xenalyte]

Very good point you make! We have no idea as to the ultimate disposition of the bag. Perhaps it wasn't capable of providing full coverage.

[stainlessbanner]

Bagging groceries is a lost art!

Amen. It's like Tetris real-time!

[HeadOn]

Cool! I love a good experiment. Thanks !

As for the "lifting it to the counter" aspect, there may be something to that. There is a big difference between holding (steady state) stress, and moving (acceleration) stress.

I once had a physics professor who absolutely ruined some lawyer's big payday by proving in court that jerking the chain on a chain hoist instead of steadily pulling (as the manual strongly cautioned) multiplied stresses several times.

[yarddog]

I agree with you completely.

I don't think this is worth a lawsuit, well maybe so if she really did break her foot, but those bags will sometimes drop the contents with almost no warning and not much weight.

[ElkGroveDan]

Brenda Sager suffered numerous injuries including cracked and damaged toenails. .... ....as a result of his wife's injuries he has been deprived of her attention and comfort and suffered a loss of consortium.

Not tonight dear, I have a broken toenail.