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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Morgan

No. 12-98-00093-CV, 1999 WL 33312264 (Tex.App.–Tyler June 30, 1999, pet. denied): This was a difficult personal injury case that Roberts & Roberts tried twice against Wal-Mart during the days of Wal-Mart’s “no settlement” policy. The plaintiff, who was an independent truck driver, alleged that a Wal-Mart employee negligently knocked a box onto the plaintiff’s head while they were unloading the plaintiff’s truck. Wal-Mart contended that its employee did not cause the box to fall, and that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent in not preventing the box from falling. There were no witnesses to this accident. The plaintiff waited a month before seeing a doctor. He ultimately required neck surgery and contended that he could not return to his occupation as a truck driver. Wal-Mart contended that the neck surgery resulted from a pre-existing condition and that the plaintiff’s disability resulted from a documented subsequent neck injury. Unsatisfied with the results of the first trial, Roberts & Roberts successfully moved for a new trial. Roberts & Roberts obtained a verdict 12 times larger for their client in the second trial. Wal-Mart appealed the final judgment all the way to the Texas Supreme Court before paying it. Roberts & Roberts has been able to settle most of its cases against Wal-Mart since that time.