Plaintiff: Gregory Scott Sampson
Defendants: Kroger Limited Partnership
Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia—Charlottesville Division
What’s at issue: Whether Kroger is responsible for a power jack that “behaved in a very erratic and unpredictable fashion” and crushed Sampson’s thumb. On September 6, 2005, the Frito-Lay route sales rep says he was asked by the grocery manager of the 1904 Emmet St. Kroger to move a pallet of chips with a power jack he had never used before. Sampson claims he was moving the jack backwards and forwards when it moved “quickly and unexpectedly such that the handle of the jack struck a cardboard bailer with great force and violence,” catching his right thumb and nearly severing it “from the rest of his hand.”
What’s at stake: $250,000
What’s the status: The suit was originally filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court but was removed to federal court in March. A jury trial has been scheduled for September 25-26.
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