Fowler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

240 F. Supp. 3d 1078, 2017 WL 936631, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33952
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedMarch 9, 2017
DocketCase No.: 2:16-cv-00450-JCM-GWF
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 240 F. Supp. 3d 1078 (Fowler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fowler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 240 F. Supp. 3d 1078, 2017 WL 936631, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33952 (D. Nev. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER

Re: Motion (ECF No. 21)

GEORGE FOLEY, JR., United States Magistrate Judge

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion to Strike Defendant’s Answer (ECF No. 21), filed on January 18, 2017. Defendant filed its Opposition (ECF No. 23) on February 1, 2017, and Plaintiff filed her Reply (ECF No. 33) on February 13, 2017. Also before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion to Strike Declarations (ECF No. 29), filed on February 8, 2017. The Court conducted a hearing in this matter on February 23, 2017.

BACKGROUND

On October 27, 2013, Plaintiff Linda Fowler slipped and fell on a foreign substance at Defendant’s Wal-Mart Store located at 5200 S. Fort Apache Rd., Las Vegas, Nevada.1 According to a witness statement completed by the store’s then assistant manager, Sara Bollinger, the slip and fall accident occurred at approximately 2:40 P.M. in a customer aisle in the store’s garden center. Motion (ECF No. 21), Exhibit 6. In her motion, Plaintiff describes the substance as “a slick foreign soap-like or gel-like substance.” Id. at pg. 3. In her answers to interrogatories dated June 8, 2016, she described it as “a slightly viscous liquid substance.” Id. at Exhibit 5, pg. 5. In her deposition taken on July 21, 2016, Plaintiff described the substance as [1081]*1081“thick and sticky and like a gel is the best way I can describe it.” Opposition (ECF No. 23), Exhibit F, Plaintiff’s deposition, pg. 60. Ms. Bollinger, who responded to the accident location, reported that there “was some kind of fluid on the floor and a skid mark where [Plaintiff] fell.” Motion (ECF No. 21), Exhibit 6. At her deposition, Ms. Bollinger described the substance as a “gooey substance;” “Something sticky, not slippery;” “Something that would be sticky, like gooey, something not water.” Id. at Exhibit 9, Bollinger deposition, pgs 11-12.

Ms. Bollinger took four photographs of the substance on the floor in the aisle where Plaintiff fell. Id. at Exhibit 1, photographs. The floor was concrete and the substance depicted in the photographs is clear or yellowish-clear in color. Ms. Bol-linger did not identify what the substance was or where it came from. Id. at Exhibit 9, pg. 12. She did not determine how long it had been on the floor. To her knowledge no else at Wal-Mart made any determinations on these matters. Id. at pgs. 12-13, Ms. Bollinger testified that Wal-Mart did not have any record of the time the floor was last inspected before the accident, or of the condition of the floor prior to the accident. Id. at pg. 14. The only investigation Ms. Bollinger conducted on October 27,2013 was to take pictures of the foreign substance and to see that relevant video was preserved. Id. at pg. 58, Ms. Bollinger did not interview any employees to determine if they had spilled anything in the subject aisle. She did not recall whether she walked around the area to look for something that might have been the source of the substance. She did not attempt to determine who was the last employee in the aisle prior to the fall. Id. at pg. 59.

On October 30, 2013, three days after the accident, Ms. Fowler’s attorney sent a letter to Wal-Mart’s claims adjuster, Sedgwick Claims Management Services, advising that he represented Ms. Fowler in her claim for personal injuries arising from the accident. Motion (ECF No. 21), Exhibit 7. The attorney requested that Wal-Mart preserve and forward copies of any statements obtained from Ms. Fowler, the incident report, the names and addresses of any witnesses, and “all video recordings related to this incident, and copies of any photographs taken related to this incident.” Id. Sedgwick responded to the attorney’s letter on November 12, 2013, but did not address his requests. Id. at Exhibit 8.

On October 27, 2016, Plaintiff served a second amended notice of a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of Defendant Wal-Mart to be taken on November 14, 2016. The amended notice listed the following categories for inquiry at the deposition:

1. Investigatipn of the subject accident of October 27, 2013;
2. The safety standards of Wal-Mart Stores regarding preventing slips/ trips and falls as of the subject accident of October 27, 2013;
3. Wal-Mart Stores safety policies and procedures regarding preventing slips/trips and falls as of the subject accident of October 27, 2013;
4. Training and supervision regarding safety which was provided to employees of Wal-Mart Stores;
5. The surveillance videos at the subject Wal-Mart Stores on the day of the accident which were capable of capturing video footage relevant to the plaintiffs fall, the efforts taken to preserve surveillance video of the accident and of the events surrounding the accident and the reasons why Wal-Mart Stores has not preserved surveillance video, that existed as of October 27,2013.

Opposition (ECF No. 23), Exhibit C.

[1082]*1082Defendant designated Ms. Bollinger, who is now co-manager of the Wal-Mart store, as its Rule 30(b)(6) deponent. Motion (EOF No. 21), Exhibit 9, Bollinger deposition. Ms. Bollinger was questioned about a Wal-Mart document entitled “Preservation Directive” which stated in part as follows:

Q, ... “The company may have a legal obligation to preserve information that is potentially relevant to this incident. Accordingly, you must immediately search for and preserve paper and electronic documents, data and physical evidence, including but not limited to the following.” And then it says right underneath “evidence” in the first box, can you read everything that’s said in that box?
A. “Surveillance video one hour before and one hour after depicting where the incident occurred, and any condition, e.g. pallet, end cap, cart, et cetera involved. If the incident involved an identified substance, also collect video from the area where any product containing the substance was • displayed or sold.”
Id. at Exhibit 9, Bollinger deposition, pg. 36.

The document also instructed store personnel to collect two copies of video on DVD and contained a place for the employee to initial that this had been done, or to provide an explanation if there was no video. The document for the subject incident was not completed to indicate whether video had been preserved. Id. at pgs 36-37.2 Ms. Bollinger testified that the employee responsible .for obtaining and preserving relevant surveillance video recordings is known as an “Asset Protection Associate” or “AP” associate. The AP associate on duty at the time of Plaintiffs accident was Arveta Nolan. Id. at pgs. 33-34,

During the deposition, Ms. ' Bollinger was shown another Wal-Mart document which stated that “[i]t is essential to pull any CCTV video immediately following the incident/accident, even if the incident/accident occurs in the general area or next aisle over from where the camera is located.” Id. at pg. 60:6-10. As quoted by Plaintiffs counsel, the document also stated:

Q.

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240 F. Supp. 3d 1078, 2017 WL 936631, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33952, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fowler-v-wal-mart-stores-inc-nvd-2017.