South Carolina jury orders Walmart to pay $10 million to a woman who says she lost part of her leg a
- Walmart has been ordered to pay $10 million to a woman who said she was injured while shopping.
- She filed a lawsuit in 2017 after she said she stepped on a rusty nail and lost part of her leg.
- Walmart said that it did not believe the injuries resulted from the incident.
Walmart has been ordered to pay $10 million in damages to a woman who sued the company after a rusty nail in the store penetrated her foot, South Carolina outlet The State reported.
April Jones said she was walking in an aisle of a Florence branch of the store in 2015 when the nail lodged itself in her foot. Her lawyers said an infection soon followed and she eventually underwent amputations, including several toes and most of her right leg, The State reported.
Jones has used a wheelchair for six years, her lawyers said, according to the report. Anastopoulo Law Firm, which represented Jones, said: "Her daily life was significantly interrupted."
She sued Walmart in 2017, and a jury in Florence County awarded the damages to Jones last month.
Jones' lawyers told The State that she would use the award to buy a prosthetic, make her home more wheelchair-friendly, and cover her 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."
Jones' lawyers and Walmart did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, told The State that the store worked hard to ensure customer safety. He added that it did not believe Jones' injuries resulted from stepping on the rusty nail.
"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," the spokesperson said.
In another recent judgment against Walmart, the retailer was ordered to pay $2.1 million in damages to an Alabama woman who had been accused of shoplifting.
That lawsuit, which was filed in 2016, said employees did not believe the woman paid for her groceries.
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