HM&B Secures a Partial Summary Judgment Against Non-Medical Economic Damages Claims for a Big Box Retailer

Jacques De Bruijn v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, Case No.: CACE 18-008478 (In the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida)

The Plaintiff, Jacques De Bruijn, a self-employed architect and developer, alleges that he went to a Walmart store located in Pompano Beach, Florida on July 5, 2015 for the purpose of purchasing a pressure washer. The one he found was on the bottom shelf and when he went to retrieve it, the shelf above allegedly fell on his left elbow, forearm and wrist, allegedly causing him physical injury. In addition to non-economic and medical expenses, the Plaintiff also sought damages for lost wages, diminished earnings capacity, and non-medical economic losses and lost business opportunities. Specifically, the Plaintiff claimed that because of the accident at Walmart he was deprived of a business opportunity which he claimed required his personal attendance at a bankruptcy hearing in the Middle District of Florida to make a case to the bankruptcy judge to accept a deal to secure his $65 million dollars of collateral per his company’s investment in hundreds of timeshare units. The Plaintiff claimed he was unable to attend the hearing because of his accident and therefore was not able to make his personal plea to the judge. Instead, he had legal representation that made that argument for him and the bankruptcy judge denied the relief sought. Plaintiff claimed that he would have achieved an opposite result if he had made the argument personally. The Plaintiff also claimed that he had to incur additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in added expenses such as hiring architects for his business He also claimed he lost past wages and suffers a diminished earnings capacity as a result of the accident. HM&B partners, Suzette L. Russomanno and Scott D. Kirschbaum, with the use of bankruptcy experts and the Plaintiff’s own deposition testimony proved to the court that all of the Plaintiff’s non-medical economic claims were speculative and not supported by any evidence whatsoever. The court granted partial summary judgment on these non-medical and other economic losses clearing the field of claimed damages in excess of $65 million dollars. The litigation as to the personal injury case will proceed forward.