Large Award Paid by Costco for Woman Who Fell in the Store

POMONA - A jury Tuesday awarded a Covina woman who slipped, fell and shattered her kneecap at an Industry Costco store more than $400,000, the woman's attorney said.

Monika Leiterman, 58, was having lunch at the food court of the store, 17550 Castleton Street, April 1, 2009, when she slipped on a puddle of liquid soap and shattered her patella.

The jury ruled 12-0 in favor of Leiterman, the attorney said, awarding her a total of $414,868; $89,868 for past and future medical expenses and $325,000 in past and future pain and suffering.

"I presented evidence that numerous Costco employees had walked by the area of the spill within minutes before Ms. Leiterman fell," attorney said. "They didn't stop and clean it up, as their policies and procedures require that they do."

Costco representatives did not return calls seeking comment.

As a result of the injury, Leiterman has already had one operation in which surgeon's wired her kneecap back together, and may have to undergo two more operations, attorney said.

"She has a lifetime of partial loss of function and mobility and pain expected for the rest of her life," he said.

Costco denied any responsibility in the fall, attorney added. "There was no offer to settle."

The source of the liquid soap spill was uncertain, attorney said, however it likely leaked from a shopping cart.

A Fayette Circuit Court jury has awarded the estate of James Milford Gray $1.45 million in punitive damages from St. Joseph Hospital on Harrodsburg Road for its role in Gray's 1999 death.

The verdict came this week after a three-week trial.

Gray's estate sued the hospital, two doctors, a physician's assistant and three nurses in 2000, accusing them of failing to pay proper attention to the 39-year-old man's symptoms or results of blood tests that indicated his life was in danger. The suit also accused St. Joseph of "patient dumping," the illegal practice of turning away uninsured or under-insured people who need emergency care. And the lawsuit maintained that Gray, who had a criminal record, was told that police would be called if he returned to the hospital.

Gray, a paraplegic since he was shot as a teenager, went to the hospital's emergency room April 8, 1999, complaining of abdominal pain, protracted constipation and vomiting, according to the estate's attorneys. He was given pain medication and an enema, and was discharged.

He returned to the hospital the next day with severe abdominal pain after having vomited blood all night. Laboratory work showed he was critically ill, but the hospital discharged him, and he died several hours later at a relative's home due to peritonitis and a ruptured peptic ulcer, said Lexington lawyer Liz Seif, one of the attorneys for the estate.

St. Joseph and its attorneys have vigorously denied the claims while fighting the lawsuit for 12 years.

One jury trial in the case ended in a mistrial. Then, in 2005, a jury awarded Gray's estate $1.5 million in punitive damages from the hospital. By that time, the hospital was the only defendant.

The latest trial was the result of appeals.

"This case is now 13 years old, and St. Joseph maintains the same position that we have all along, that appropriate care was provided. We plan to appeal the decision once again," St. Joseph spokesman Jeff Murphy said Thursday in an email.

Said Seif: "I feel really gratified in that the jury, once again, saw that the hospital was grossly negligent in its treatment of Milford Gray. We greatly appreciate the jury in this case. They worked very hard. They deliberated for a long time, and their verdict was very courageous."

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