Woman's Leg Amputated After Stepping on Nail at Walmart, Wins $10M

News

By Kelton Brooks Published: December 2, 2021

Woman’s Leg Amputated After Stepping on Nail at Walmart, Wins $10M

Signage is pictured at a Walmart store Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, in Oklahoma City. Walmart delivered strong profits and sales that beat Wall Street expectations for its fiscal second quarter helped by shoppers focused on buying food and other items as they stay close to home during the pandemic. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

In Summary

The woman filed a lawsuit in 2017 in South Carolina where she said she stepped on a rusty nail, which went through her shoe and got jammed in her foot.

A Black woman who had her leg amputated after she stepped on a rusty nail at Walmart was awarded $10 million by a South Carolina jury.

April Jones said she was walking down the aisle by some pallets in a South Carolina Walmart in 2015 when she suddenly felt a sharp, stinging pain in her foot.

Jones discovered a long, rusty nail had jammed through her shoe and got stuck in her foot, according to a lawsuit she filed in 2017. At the time of the incident, Jones was wearing sandals.

She went to the hospital to have the nail removed and her wounded treated, but the puncture led to an infection, the lawsuit stated.

The infected wound led to three separate amputations of her toes and her foot, causing Jones to lose most of her right leg. She was placed in a wheelchair, which she has been in for six years

Jones sued Walmart after her daily life was significantly interrupted, Jones’ lawyers said in the lawsuit.

In November, a jury in Florence County, South Carolina awarded Jones $10 million in damages to cover past and future medical bills

“The jury sent a message to Walmart that if you come into Florence County and injure one of their own, they will make sure that person is taken care of,” Roy Willey IV, one of Jones’s lawyers, said in a statement announcing the verdict. “We are forever grateful.”

A Walmart spokesman, Randy Hargrove, told The Washington Post they have filed post-trial motions.

“Walmart works hard to help ensure that all customers have a safe experience shopping in our stores,” Hargrove said. “We appreciate the jury’s service; however, we do not believe the verdict is supported by the evidence or that Ms. Jones’ injury resulted from what was alleged in her complaint.”