Jury awards $10 million to woman who stepped on rusty nail at Walmart

FLORENCE COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A jury has awarded $10 million to a South Carolina woman who sued Walmart after she needed multiple surgeries because of an infection that resulted from stepping on a rusty nail inside one of the company’s stores, her lawyers said.

The incident happened in June 2015, according to a news release from the Anastopoulo Law Firm, which represented April Jones.

According to the release, Jones had to have her right leg amputated above the knee following the incident. She has been in a wheelchair for six years, and the verdict will allow her to purchase a prosthetic and make her home more accessible, the law firm said.

A jury deliberated for about an hour and a half after hearing evidence in a five-day trial. According to the law firm, one of Walmart’s experts testified during cross-examination that the nail was the cause of the injury.

“The weakness of Walmart’s case, among other things, was their failure to produce a video that they claim showed their conforming behavior to a company policy calling for employees to perform regular safety sweeps,” the news release said. “No such evidence was presented for the duration of the five-day-long trial.”