Jury sides with injured man against Walmart

A jury has awarded a Raytown man $450,000 in damages for injuries he sustained while visiting his local Walmart Garden Center in 2018.

On Aug. 13, the jury sided with plaintiff Gregory Stillman, assessing 100 percent fault to Walmart for his injuries and wrapping up a three-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Stillman, now 61, initially filed the suit in Jackson County Circuit Court in January 2019. Walmart removed the case to federal court last year.

Stillman’s lawsuit stems from a March 9, 2018 visit to the company’s store in Raytown. Amanda Blackwood of the Montee Law Firm in St. Joseph, who represented Stillman, said her client’s allegation at trial was that the Garden Center’s garage-style overhead door was set too low to be safe.

When Stillman, who is 6 feet tall, entered the Garden Center door, he struck his head on it, she said.

“Our allegation was that the door was unreasonably dangerous set like that,” she said.

Blackwood said Stillman sustained a lump on his head, a concussion and post-concussion syndrome with ongoing symptoms.

“It was a traumatic brain-injury case,” she said.

At trial, she asked the jury to consider awarding $650,000 in damages, she said.

“We were very pleased with the outcome,” she said.

In a strategic decision, Stillman did not present his medical bills or lost wages to the jury but sought only damages for his pain and suffering.

Blackwood said the judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge Greg Kays, ruled prior to trial that the actual billed amounts of medical bills would not come in, only the amounts paid by Stillman and the reduced medical bills.

She said that was a split from rulings in the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District and Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District, which have interpreted the new collateral source law to allow for both the original billed amounts and reduced amounts to be presented to a jury.

“I haven’t seen any judge rule that way,” she said. “From our perspective, that’s notable, particularly if there’s a case where those numbers are very different.”

Lindsay Windham of Halbrook Wood in Prairie Village, Kansas represented Walmart. She did not respond to a message seeking comment.

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