Wal-Mart Pays $1 Million for Personal Injury Pallet-Jack Accident
Wal-Mart was forced to pay nearly $1,000,000 to a client of San Antonio-area personal injury accident attorney Virgil Yanta, after the world's largest company lost its Supreme Court appeal of a customer's Dallas trial court's judgment. After earlier unsuccessfully appealing Wal-Mart Stores Texas, L.P. v. Crosby to the Dallas Court of Appeals, the world's largest corporation finally wrote its check for $996,225.72 to its former customer recently, buying its peace and closing the case.
In the wee morning hours of June 13, 2004, as the customer shopped the beverages aisle, a shelf-stocker driving a pallet-jack stacked high with juices rounded a corner and ran into the man, pushing him up against the shelving. The customer left the store unassisted, walking under his own power and then driving himself home. However, when his back pain increased as the days went by, the customer and his wife both were unsuccessful in their repeated attempts to convince Wal-Mart to accept responsibility and pay for the necessary medical care - forcing the hurting customer to rely on emergency room visits and little else.
After being completely stonewalled for months - and even being accused of faking his claim - the frustrated customer eventually retained injury and claims attorney and litigator Virgil Yanta and his Yanta Law Firm of Boerne, Texas. Yanta took the case to court, winning a judgment against the Arkansas-based enterprise on May 19, 2008, following a brief trial. Despite calling only the client, the client's wife and one other witness to the stand, Yanta succeeded in getting what may be among the largest recoveries ever actually paid by Wal-Mart in the Lone Star State.
