On Thursday, August 23rd Michael Neff spoke to a group of approximately 70 lawyers about his law firm’s latest verdict – a $2.79 million verdict against Kroger in Gwinnett County stemming from a slip and fall in Kroger’s Fayetteville, Georgia store. Our client developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome – a frequently permanent form of nerve damage.
Neff talked about what he learned from Voir Dire – the process of asking questions to potential jurors before the case. Neff noted that during the trial, the evidence reflected that Kroger had not met their inspection policies. Also, Kroger failed to produce video from the store’s video cameras. Kroger blamed the lack of video on power surges but produced no written documentation proving that any power surge problem had been reported or needed to be fixed. Neff also discussed the issue of asking a jury for money for “invisible” but chronic pain.
According to data produced by CaseMetrix (www.case-metrix.com), the verdict is the highest reported slip and fall verdict or settlement in Georgia regarding falls in grocery stores (1st of 216). The verdict is the second highest reported slip and fall verdict (2nd of 432). It is the highest reported verdict for a slip and fall in Gwinnett County (1st of 77).