Woman Sues Walmart In Shorewood After Slipping On Fruit Inside Store

JOLIET, IL - Last summer's routine shopping experience for Yvonne M. Tafoya at the Walmart store in Shorewood has morphed into a civil lawsuit against the nation's largest retail outlet. Joliet attorney Adam Zayed recently filed suit in Will County Circuit Court against Walmart Stores Inc. The personal injury lawsuit on Tafoya's behalf seeks more than $50,000 in damages from Walmart.

Tafoya went to the Walmart store in the 1400 block of Route 59 last July 21, expecting the store's employees would properly maintain and manage the business for she and other customers, the suit contends. "Yvonne M. Tafoya was walking down an aisle in said store when she slipped and fell on a piece of fruit that was sitting on the aisle floor," her lawyer stated. "That defendant, Walmart, knew or had reason to suspect that customers would not appreciate the slip hazard by the piece of fruit because of distraction and/or preoccupation."

The Zayed Law Offices accuse the Shorewood Walmart of being guilty of careless and negligent acts by allowing and permitting a piece of fruit to remain on the aisle floor and failing to warn Tafoya about the dangerous condition the floor posed.

"That as a direct and proximate result of one or more of the aforementioned negligent acts or omissions, plaintiff Tafoya has suffered injuries of a permanent, personal and pecuniary nature," her lawyer wrote.

Tafoya's lawsuit is scheduled for a hearing at the Will County Courthouse in late October.