Autozone must pay out over $1 million to a woman who won a lawsuit after she slipped and fell on transmission fluid at one of the company’s Ocala locations.
A jury of the fifth judicial circuit court of Marion County awarded Kimberly Warner $1,037,956.14 in damages on March 28, according to court records.
The verdict comes over two-and-a-half years after Warner, a resident of Clermont, suffered injuries from a fall at the Autozone located at 11 Cedar Radial Pass in Ocala.
According to the original complaint, which was filed in June 2022, Warner was a customer at the Autozone on September 25, 2021.
During her visit, Warner slipped and fell on transmission fluid that had been spilled in the parking lot of the facility.
During a four-day trial, Autozone “admitted it knew about the spill and took no action to clean it up when it should have,” according to a statement issued by local law firm Piccin & Glynn, which represented Warner.
According to Warner’s attorneys, testimony from Autozone employees “proved that Autozone was aware of the transmission fluid spill for approximately an hour and failed to clean it up.”
Despite Autozone attempting to place blame on Warner for the incident, the jury determined that only 5% of the “percentage of negligence” that led to the accident belonged to Warner, while the company bore 95% of the negligence.
According to the verdict, Warner was awarded $157,956.14 for past medical expenses, and another $300,000 for future medical expenses. The verdict also calls for Warner to receive $80,000 for damages sustained in the past and $500,000 for damages to be sustained in the future.
Those damages include “pain and suffering, disability, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, inconvenience, aggravation of a disease or physical defect and loss of capacity for enjoyment of life,” according to the verdict.