Morgan & Morgan Wins $11.3 Million Verdict Against Target

[Orlando, FL] – On Friday, October 17, an Orange County jury awarded a $11,391,183.28 verdict to a 44-year-old Florida woman who tripped and fell at a Target store in Winter Garden, FL. Represented by Morgan & Morgan attorneys Matt Morgan, Fan Li and Perry Nava, the plaintiff declined the defense’s highest pre-trial settlement offer of $250,000 before ultimately being awarded the eight-figure verdict.

On December 23, 2019, the plaintiff parked in the parking lot of the Target located in the Winter Garden Village shopping center on Daniels Road. She was carrying her daughter and navigating between parked vehicles to avoid holiday traffic and puddles when she walked near a landscaping island. Unbeknownst to her, the seam between the asphalt and the concrete gutter part of the curb created an unmarked, meaningful and abrupt change in elevation in violation of multiple building codes. When she stepped on the uneven surface, her left ankle twisted and fractured, causing her to fall to the right.  She attempted to catch her balance without dropping her child, but her leg ultimately landed to the right in an awkward, pretzel-like position, resulting in a right tibia fracture, a right fibula fracture, and a right lateral malleolus fracture. She underwent procedures to repair her leg, including a right tibia open reduction internal fixation with an intramedullary nail, a right tibia external fixation and a right tibia posterior malleolus open reduction. The plaintiff, who will live the rest of her life with the hardware that was installed to repair her leg, sued both Target Corporation and Site Centers Corp, which owns the Winter Garden Village property. The defendants were found to be 90% at fault.

“Our client suffered a devastating and lifelong injury due to the defendants’ negligence, and she now lives with pain and limitations from the metal rods and screws in her right leg,” said Morgan & Morgan attorneys Matt Morgan and Fan Li. “This verdict spoke the full truth as to the level of human harms and losses sustained by our client in the past and the future. We’re pleased that our presentation of the evidence resonated with jurors, who delivered a just verdict which we hope will make up for the ways in which our client’s life was irrevocably altered through no fault of her own.”

The case was heard by Judge John Marshall Kest, Case No. 2021-CA-000145-O in the Circuit Court for the Ninth Judicial Circuit in and for Orange County, Florida. The defense was represented by attorneys Maham Shariq and Scott Shelton of Cole, Scott & Kissane.