A status conference is set July 15 in St. Clair County Circuit Judge Vincent Lopinot’s courtroom in a case against Wal-Mart filed by a man claiming to have fallen after a toilet seat on which he was sitting slid out from under him.
Clifford Greer filed suit March 18 in St. Clair County against Wal-Mart Stores. He claims he was shopping at the Wal-Mart located at 1511 Camp Jackson Road in Cahokia, Oct. 1, 2011 when he attempted to use a toilet seat in the store’s restroom.
He allegedly suffered back, neck and head injuries.
“While attempting to slide onto the toilet, the toilet moved causing plaintiff to fall,” the suit states.
Wal-Mart responded to the lawsuit April 22. Wal-Mart says the cause of the plaintiff’s claimed injuries was his failure to use available hand-holds and his decision to use the toilet seat as a means to stabilize himself when transferring from his wheelchair to the toilet.
“Further answering, in the alternative, and without waiving its denial of liability, defendant states that plaintiff was contributorily negligent for the reasons stated above, and that plaintiff should be barred from recovering damages because plaintiff’s contributory fault is more than 50 percent of the proximate cause of injury or damage for which recovery is sought.”
In addition to his injuries, Greer claims he became sick, sore, lame, disordered and disabled; incurred medical costs; and experienced pain and suffering, the complaint says.
Greer blames Wal-Mart for causing his injuries, saying the store negligently failed to properly install toilets, failed to warn about the dangers of a defective toilet and failed to properly maintain its toilets.
Greer seeks a judgment of more than $50,000.
Kirk A. Caponi of the Law Offices of Williams, Caponi and Foley in Belleville represents the plaintiff.
James E. DeFranco and Darrell J. Flesner of DeFranco & Bradley represent the defense.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-147.