This page is about personal injury lawsuits against Walmart. Our lawyers look at settlement compensation payouts in Walmart injury cases, what you can expect if you have an accident claim against this retailer, and how to increase the settlement amount you receive for your case.
Everyone knows Walmart. It is the world’s largest company by revenue in 2024 and the largest non-governmental employer. It is the most frequently sued private personal injury claims defendant in the United States.
- Parent’s Choice baby food autism lawsuits against Walmart
Walmart Injury Claims
Walmart is sued nearly 20 times daily, close to 5,000 times each year. Many of these lawsuits have been brought by Walmart’s employees, who allege employment discrimination and wage and hour violations, mostly involving overtime.
Our law firm handles only severe injury and wrongful death personal injury cases. This article is about personal injury tort claims against Walmart. Most typically, they are slip and fall or other premises liability cases, truck accidents, negligent security, or pharmacy malpractice cases.
Can you sue Walmart if you are a customer and suffered an injury due to their negligence? Most likely, you can. How do you sue Walmart or convince them to settle? Your best path is to hire the best lawyer that you can.
Why a Walmart-specific page? Walmart is a prominent defendant. Some aspects of suing Walmart and fighting this company in court differ from dealing with other companies. It does not reflect any particular animosity our lawyers have towards Walmart.
A quick survey of our law firm shows that almost all of our lawyers and paralegals shop there. You cannot avoid Walmart and Amazon in 2024. But Walmart is the rare big-large company that is even-handed when it comes to claims and litigation. Walmart plays hardball from the incident report to appeal your verdict. Walmart litigation will be a battle and your lawyer needs to be ready to go.
Walmart has a reputation in accident claims for being particularly aggressive. In some ways, the company is like its shoppers. Walmart wants to get the best deal that it can. But, in this case, Walmart getting the best deal means not giving the victims that it hurts and kills by its negligence reasonable compensation for the harm it causes. That is not justice.
How Does Walmart Handle Claims?
How does Walmart handle claims against it? They fight them.
How does that work? Walmart has set up a subsidiary called Claims Management, Inc., which acts as its own third-party insurance adjuster. Claims Management manages, values, and tracks Walmart accident claims. It does all the legwork on processing claims, getting information from the victims, trying to get recorded statements, etc.
You will feel like you are dealing with a separate company, which might give you the feeling that you are dealing with a third party who might treat you more fairly. Ultimately, you are dealing with Walmart.
Where Are the Big Walmart Settlements as Opposed to Verdicts?
Walmart has good lawyers. Any significant settlement with Walmart will have the tightest confidentiality clause you have ever seen. So Walmart keeps the lion’s share of the settlement compensation payouts it makes under tight wraps.
Walmart Fights Like an Insurance Company… But Harder
Generally speaking, fighting against a large corporation is easier than fighting an insurance company. Why? Because insurance companies often have in-house counsel — paid attorney employees — to challenge their claims.
Even big companies need to hire lawyers. This makes settling claims before a lawsuit is filed more advantageous. Big companies often do not want their reputations besmirched by being the subject of many lawsuits. The corporate image also acts as an incentive to settle cases more quickly.
Walmart seemingly cares little about these things. It acts a lot like an insurance company. It does not fear its reputation will be tarnished by litigation (unless maybe someone really famous is involved). It is not particularly concerned about legal fees.
The one way Walmart’s policy in injury cases is different from an insurance company is that it fights harder. The company aggressively challenges personal injury lawsuits even when it makes economic sense to settle the claim. This is probably to discourage the filing of lawsuits. But it has not worked. Lawyers are suing Walmart every day. Even Walmart cannot take every case to and most of them end with an out-of-court settlement.
But win or lose, this retail giant desperately wants to make plaintiffs’ lawyers feel like they have been in a fight when the sue Walmart or even bring a claim against it. Getting documents from them in litigation is always World War III. Judges around the country have sanctioned Walmart for not producing documents and frustrating legitimate fact-finding by the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Can Walmart be beaten in an accident claim? Absolutely. The deciding factor in most lawsuits against Walmart or any other defendant in this country is the facts. The side that should win usually does win.
That is the good news. The bad news in the average settlement on a Walmart claim is that you will have to fight to get what you deserve. Most Walmart settlement offers will be for far less than fair value. Getting fairly compensated will likely require you to retain a personal injury lawyer.
How much can you sue Walmart for? There is no limit other than the limits some states may have with caps on damages in personal injury lawsuits.
- Walmart is now a defendant in the baby powder lawsuits because it has continued to sell the product after it has been linked to ovarian cancer
Walmart Verdicts and Settlements Payouts
Below are summaries of some successful verdicts and settlements around the country. We did not pull these at random, so please do not think these are a representative sampling or that they can tell you by themselves the value of your or your client’s case, even if you have similar facts.
Where are the significant Walmart settlements as opposed to verdicts? Walmart has good lawyers. Any big settlement with Walmart will have the tightest confidentiality clause you have ever seen
- March 2024 Georgia: $300,000 Verdict: A slipped and fell on WD-40 at a Walmart. The defense was the defense as it always is in these cases: we did not know of the slippery surface. But this case led to a police investigation. They looked at store footage capturing the incident. This video showed that about 22 minutes before the woman’s fall, a Walmart employee checked the area of the spill but left without taking any action, walking away from it. Additionally, a witness’s account in the police report highlighted that he heard conversations about the spill among Walmart employees. Inexplicably, even with these facts, Walmart took the case to trial and lost there and lost on appeal.
- October 2022 Maryland $154,379 Verdict: While browsing the produce area of a Walmart store, the a woman’s left foot made contact with an empty cart with four wheels that had been placed on the floor to hold additional bananas beneath the table’s banana exhibit. The woman fell after tripping over the cart. The plaintiff alleged that she had experienced harm, which included tears in her right hip, hamstring, and thigh, as well as a Grade IV chondromalacia patella in her left knee.
- March 2020 Florida: $266,100 Verdict: A woman suffered (unspecified) permanent injuries after slipping and falling on a Walmart’s wet floor. She claimed that Walmart failed to maintain safe premises and failed to warn of hazardous conditions. The woman sought compensation for pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, medical bills, and lost wages. Walmart claimed no knowledge of the hazard. The jury found the woman 65 percent liable and Walmart 35 percent liable. They awarded a $266,100 verdict.
- January 2020 Florida: $572,988 Verdict: A woman slipped and fell on an unknown substance in a Walmart grocery aisle. She suffered permanent injuries. The woman claimed the company failed to maintain safe conditions. Of course, Walmart denied liability, arguing that the woman’s negligence caused her injuries. The jury found the store 100 percent liable and awarded the woman a $572,988 verdict
- February 2019 West Virginia: $16,900,000 Verdict: Plaintiff, a 52-year-old grandmother, was shopping at her hometown Walmart with her granddaughter in the shopping cart. Store security had caught a known shoplifter and detained him near the back of the store. The shoplifter then attempted to flee from security and ran the plaintiff over on his way out, knocking her over, and the shopping cart with the granddaughter fell on top of her. Plaintiff suffered major abdominal injuries that internally damaged her intestines, requiring numerous surgeries, over 20 hospitalizations, and leaving her permanently dependent on a feeding tube. Plaintiff hired a personal injury lawyer who sued Walmart, claiming that its security staff was negligent in attempting to detain the shoplifter who had run from them on previous occasions. Walmart denied any wrongdoing and blamed the shoplifter. The jury awarded $16.9 million, the largest verdict in the history of West Virginia.
- June 2019 Colorado: $583,040 Verdict: A man on crutches requested an electric cart. The back support collapsed as he sat in the cart, causing him to fall backward. His knee also became caught on the cart’s handlebars, preventing him from falling onto the floor. The man suffered soft-tissue spinal injuries. He claimed that Walmart should have known of the defective carts and failed to warn customers of the hazard. Walmart denied responsibility, arguing that the man’s injury was pre-existing. The jury found Walmart 75 percent liable and the man 25 percent responsible. They awarded a $583,040 verdict to compensation the man medical bills, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
- June 2019 Washington: $325,000 Settlement: Here is a rare exception to the “good Walmart settlements don’t get reported” rule. A 70-year-old man slipped and fell on water leaking from a mini-refrigerator at a Walmart. He suffered leg and ankle fractures that required multiple surgical procedures. The man claimed that the mini-refrigerator had been leaking for several hours and that Walmart failed to clean it up. This case was settled for $325,000.
- May 2017, New Jersey: $25,000 Settlement: A boy was with his mother shopping at Walmart store #2109 in Millville, New Jersey, when he tripped and fell over snow shovels left on the aisle floor. He sued Walmart for negligently allowing a dangerous condition to remain on the property and failing to warn and sought damages for “unspecified injuries” and medical expenses resulting from the trip and fall. Walmart settled the case out of court for $25,000.
- July 2016, Ohio: $81,500 Verdict: A 51-year-old woman was shopping at Walmart and was pushed backward and fell while pushing a shopping cart as a pallet jack/pallet being pushed down the same aisle by a Walmart employee struck her cart. She claimed that she suffered disc herniations with chronic radiculopathy; a partially torn rotator cuff; and other soft tissue injuries. Walmart admitted liability but dispute the alleged damages. Walmart rejected the plaintiff’s $110,000 settlement demand, and a jury awarded the plaintiff $81,500 in damages.
- July 2016, Missouri: $6,000 Settlement: A minor was with her parents at a Walmart in Raytown, Missouri, and she slipped and fell on a wet floor and suffered non-specified injuries. Her mother filed suit on her behalf, and the case was promptly settled for $6,000.
- May 2016, Pennsylvania: $17,500 Arbitration Award: The plaintiff was walking on the sidewalk in front of his local Walmart store when he tripped on an elevated edge of the concrete and fell and hit his face and head. He allegedly suffered a maxillofacial fracture, three lost teeth, a cervical strain, and multiple contusions and abrasions. He filed a Walmart lawsuit, alleging it failed to maintain the condition of the sidewalk and negligently created a tripping hazard. Walmart denied any hazardous or dangerous condition on the premises and argued that the plaintiff failed to watch where he was walking. An Arbitration Board in Allegheny County awarded the plaintiff $17,500.
- February 2016, New York: $59,000 Settlement: A 13-year-old girl overdosed on her prescribed prednisone after a Walmart pharmacist mislabeled the prescription bottle, which caused her to take more of the medication than prescribed by her physician. The overdose caused temporary hair loss, vomiting, muscle cramping, and shaking, putting her in the hospital for two days. The case was settled for a total of $59,520, $30,000 of which was put into an annuity for the benefit of the minor.
- March 2013, Texas: $199,112 Verdict: A 42-year-old clerical worker slipped and fell while walking in the meat department of an El Paso Walmart. She was taken by ambulance to a local emergency room, where she was treated for disc herniations and bulges, a sprained right ankle, an annular tear, and a torn ligament in her right knee. Her Walmart lawsuit claimed the employees had washed the concrete floor with a mechanical scrubber that had been excessively filled with soap and used an incorrect mop. Plaintiff also claimed that the defendant failed to place wet floor signs. Defendant denied liability, claiming the floor had thoroughly dried at the time of the fall. The defense lawyer also argued the plaintiff’s disc injuries were pre-existing conditions. An El Paso jury found Defendant liable for Plaintiff’s injuries and returned a $199,112 verdict.
Getting a Lawyer to Fight for You
Our lawyers handle Walmart severe injury and wrongful death personal injury claims. Our focus is on serious injury and wrongful death claims. We do not handle smaller cases. (If the injuries are not very serious, you can always fill out a contact form, and we will forward it to a lawyer handling these cases in your area, if we know one).
We are lawyers who sue Walmart. If you have been injured as a result of the negligence of this company, we may be able to help you. You can get a free Internet consultation. If you have a claim, we will call you to discuss your legal rights and options.
- Learn more about figuring out the real value of your claim
- Do I even need a personal injury claims lawyer or can I just work it out with Walmart on my own? Most lawyers will tell you that you absolutely need a lawyer. The real answer is more complicated.
- Premises liability claims in Maryland
- Example slip and fall complaint
- Negligence security lawsuits
- Similar defendants: Home Depot, Costco, Sam’s Club, Target
