Earlier this month, I posted an article from The Pennsylvania Record about an intoxicated Lowe’s employee who struck a customer with an electric cart. If the allegations are true, Lowe’s may have a serious problem on its hands. According to the Pennsylvania Record’s Jon Campisi:
Francine Lombardo and her husband, Jerome Lombardo, filed their civil suit against Lowe’s Home Center Inc. Feb. 27 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
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The suit alleges that while shopping at the Lowe’s store in Oaks, Pa. on May 7, 2011, Francine Lombardo was struck by an electric pallet cart filled with mulch that was being driven by a store employee.
The plaintiff claims that the worker who was operating the cart appeared intoxicated based upon the fact that he smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes and slurred speech.
This begs the question: if this woman smelled alcohol on this worker and noticed his glassy eyes and slurred speech, didn’t management or other Lowe’s employees as well? If there were Lowe’s employees or managers who did notice his condition and still let him get behind the wheel of the cart, this could be a slam dunk for the plaintiff.
Campisi continues:
The lawsuit claims that after the incident, three other store employees ushered the pallet cart operator away to another location within the store, and that after being “abandoned and in an injured condition” for about 15 minutes, the store manager gave Francine a bag of ice for her injured leg and told her she should report to a hospital.
As a result of the incident, the complaint states, Francine Lombardo sustained an aggravation of a pre-existing condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, also known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.
The plaintiff also experienced numbness and discomfort in her right leg from the knee down to her toes, developed shoulder and lower back injuries, and sustained a right leg muscle tear that is not fully healed nearly two years after the accident.
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, known as “RSD” for short, can be a serious and permanently disabling condition which may have significant future medical costs and wage loss associated with it. One should never judge a lawsuit just be the allegations in the complaint. However, if the plaintiff’s statements are true, I see Lowe’s insurance rates going up and some employees at the store in Oaks, PA losing their jobs if they haven’t already.
If you have a personal injury legal matter, please call our Yardley office at 215-493-8287 or send us an email HERE. We will be glad to help.