Woman sues Costco for $14M after cabinet allegedly falls on her while shopping
A woman in California is suing Costco for more than $14 million, alleging that a display cabinet fell on her at one of the stores, resulting in severe injuries.
The shopper, Sadie Novotny of Santa Rosa, Calif., originally filed the lawsuit seeking $14,110,000 in general and special damages on April 29, alleging that Costco acted negligently by failing to properly manage store merchandise, which she says led to her injuries.
Novotny is suing the Costco corporation for general negligence, premises liability and products liability. She is seeking $9 million for pain and suffering, $5 million for emotional distress and additional damages for medical expenses and lost wages.
According to court documents, viewed by People, Novotny claims that the liquor display cabinet fell onto her 'suddenly and without warning' on March 22 and led to 'multiple, permanent and severe injuries thereby, including but not limited to a closed head injury and traumatic brain injury.'
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The lawsuit was initially filed in California Superior Court for Alameda County, but was moved to the United States District Court of Northern California on June 5 at the request of Costco's counsel after being served for the second time.
In her initial incident report, Novotny wrote, 'My husband and I were buying a liquor cabinet. I was holding the flatbed when the floor model fell on top of me. I caught the cabinet and pushed it back. My right shoulder, forearm, hand, fingers, and lower back hurt after the accident.'
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Novotny also notes that Costco 'should have known that a condition on their property created an unreasonable risk of harm to users' and wrote that the company failed to protect customers or 'give adequate warning' to the store's conditions.
She added that the display cabinet 'had thin legs' and was sitting on 'a defective or worn or otherwise inadequate wooden pallet, in an unreasonably dangerous manner, which posed a serious risk of harm to the public.'
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The lawsuit alleges that Costco failed to properly inspect and maintain the display and argues that the wholesale company should have known about the possible danger.
Nick Rineberg, a lawyer whose office is representing the Costco Wholesale Corporation and Costco Wholesale Membership, Inc., requested that Novotny dismiss membership from the initial complaint.
'Costco and Membership are separate entities, Membership does not operate the subject premises, Membership does not employ any persons at the subject premises, and Membership does not own, lease, operate, or manage the subject premises.'
Claude Armand Wyle, Novotny's lawyer, told ABC News that a Costco representative told him they have footage of the incident, but won't send it to him to review.
'The employee told me that the video didn't happen the way I explained it,' Wyle told the outlet. 'I told her, 'Well, send it.' She then said, 'Oh no, you can only get that video through discovery.''
'That meant I had to file a lawsuit,' Wyle added. 'I couldn't investigate any further. I was stuck. If I wanted to get to the truth, I had to file a lawsuit.'
Wyle also said that Novotny went to the hospital an hour after the incident and doctors had reportedly diagnosed her with a concussion.
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He added that his client feels slightly better now but still suffers from headaches and vision problems.
A case management conference is scheduled for Sept. 4 at the San Francisco Federal Courthouse.
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