Here’s one I missed from a month ago. (I mainly focus on medical malpractice, but am happy to blog on other PI cases if they come to my attention.)
On August 18th a Salt Lake jury returned a defense verdict in the traumatic brain injury claim of Connie Jaramillo and Dean Jaramillo v. Smith and Edwards Company, #180903417 (Judge Laura Scott).
This was a negligence case involving assertions of improper training and stacking of folding camping chairs on store shelving. Plaintiff Connie Jaramillo was walking down a store aisle at the West Jordan location of Smith and Edwards; store employees were stacking folding camp chairs and inadvertently bumped camping chairs stacked on the adjacent aisle, causing them to fall. One of the chairs hit Mrs. Jaramillo. The event was captured on the store’s video cameras.
The Amended Complaint alleged various claims for negligence and premises liability. In addition to asserting a traumatic brain injury, plaintiffs asserted that Mrs. Jaramillo was unable to work in any capacity as a result of the incident.
After a 12-day trial, the jury entered a special verdict finding that Smith and Edwards was not at fault for the incident. The jury apparently decided that Smith and Edwards employees acted reasonably in how they were stacking the folding camp chairs, and that such an injury was not foreseeable as a result of what the defense characterized as a glancing impact.
Defense counsel: Ruth Shapiro, Jeremy Stuart and Bryson Brown of Snow Christensen & Martineau.
Note- I don’t name counsel for the losing side in my verdict reports. It smacks of kicking someone when they’re down. Anyone who tries cases is going to lose some, and I see no need to rub it in.
