Jury assigns 50-50 fault in plaintiff’s verdict, reduces demand by thousands

Summary

• Jury found both Teressa Murray and Hy-Vee equally responsible, assigning 50% comparative fault to each party.
• Plaintiff alleged she slipped on a puddle beneath a watermelon display shortly after the store opened.
• Missing security footage due to Microsoft’s nationwide outage and cyber incident complicated evidence at trial.
• Jury awarded $704.10 in damages, reduced to $352.05 because of the comparative fault allocation.

An allegedly rotten watermelon, Microsoft’s national outage and breach, and equally split comparative fault resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict but a significantly reduced award in this contentious slip and fall case.

The plaintiff, Teressa Murray, was one of the first shoppers in Hy-Vee for the day and was trying to buy produce for the daycare she works at, according to her attorney Christopher Benjamin of the Chris Benjamin Law Firm in Lee’s Summit. A large puddle of water formed under the Watermelon display in the produce section and Murray slipped and fell, injuring her ankle and back.

“What was interesting about the case is that it just happened to be the same morning as there was a huge cyber breach with Microsoft, so the security camera was not available for that morning because of this breach that kind of hit everybody nationally,” Benjamin said. “So that kind of muddled up the evidence, because there’s no video of the slip.”

Although there was a witness who helped Murray away from the spill and helped her to get cleaned up, the lack of video evidence harmed the case and the claim went before a jury, Benjamin explained.

Lauren Gregory, one of the attorneys representing Hy-Vee, said her team primarily disputed liability and the causation of damages in the case.

“We basically argued Hy Vee didn’t have any notice, whether actual or constructive notice of this condition on the floor,” Gregory said. “Plaintiffs throughout their entire case wanted to make this argument that this spill that was on the floor was next to the watermelon pallet and they wanted to make this inference that this moisture that was on the floor was from a bad watermelon in the container. And we for the most part argued that it was more transient in nature, that we weren’t really sure what it was, that there was no indication present that day that it was an ongoing issue from a bad watermelon. It was probably just moisture from another customer in the area.”

After the fall, Murray went to urgent care where she was treated for right ankle and lower back pain. At trial, Hy-Vee disputed the causation of these injuries and said Murray had another fall two months after this incident, Gregory said.

Benjamin said he called the manager and several employees to testify and showed that the employees walk through the produce area to clock in each day and should have seen the spill before his clients slipped approximately 30 minutes after the store opened.

Gregory argued that Murray should have been able to see the puddle as she approached and had some responsibility to avoid it.

During closing arguments Benjamin asked for $45,000 in damages. The jury deliberated for an hour and 15 minutes before allocating 50 percent fault to each plaintiff. The damages they awarded were $704.10 but with the 50 percent fault this was reduced to $352.05.

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Amount of verdict, judgment or settlement: $704.10

Type of action: Premises liability

Allocation of Fault: 50 percent to plaintiff 50 percent to defendant

Breakdown: $704.10 (reduced to $352.05 by 50 percent comparative fault allocation).

Venue: Cass County Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: 24CA-CC00303/03/12/2026

Judge: Michael Wagner

Plaintiffs’ Experts: Treating Orthopedic Physicians Dr. Michael Beckman & Dr. Brett Miller with the Spine & Joint Centers of America in Kansas City.

Defendants’ Experts: Dr. Robert Boulware, an internal medicine specialist in Liberty.

Injuries: Back, spine, shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, hand, leg, knee, ankle, foot.

Last Pretrial Demand: $95,000

Last Pretrial Offer: $0

Caption: Teressa Murray v. Hy-Vee, Inc.

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Christopher Benjamin of the Chris Benjamin Law Firm in Lee’s Summit.

Defendants’ Attorneys: Lori Korth & Lauren Gregory of Andereck Evans in Smithville.