PITTSBURGH – A local man claims he suffered lacerations and significant tendon damage when he volunteered to help a retail store employee separate shopping carts and his hand got in the way.
Robert Bryden of Etna filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 21 versus Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Inc. of West Mifflin.
“On Dec. 23, 2020, the plaintiff was a business invitee on the premises of the defendant, specifically in the parking lot, when plaintiff had seen one of defendant’s employees struggling with shopping carts that were stuck together. As plaintiff was walking into defendant’s store, he asked the defendant’s employee if he needed assistance in separating the carts and the employee responded affirmatively,” the suit says.
“As plaintiff and the defendant’s employee pulled and struggled on opposite sides of the intertwined carts in a backwards and forwards manner, the plaintiff’s left 5th finger was significantly lacerated.”
The suit adds that the defendant was negligent in failing to provide warning to the plaintiff that the activities could cause injury, in failing to decline the plaintiff’s offer to assist and in causing injury to the plaintiff, among other claims.
“As a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned incident, the plaintiff sustained the following injuries, some or all of which are or may be permanent: a. Lacerations of the soft tissue, nerves, muscle, and a complete separation of the flexor digitorum profundus tendon of the left 5th finger with retraction to the palm requiring surgical repair; Numbness, tingling, pain, loss of strength and range of motion or the left 5th finger; Other injuries as the medical records may reveal or which have yet to be diagnosed,” the suit states.
“As a direct and proximate result of the incident described, the plaintiff sustained the following damages, some or all of which are or may be permanent: He has endured, and will continue to endure great pain, suffering, inconvenience, embarrassment, mental anguish, monetary expenditures for the care of his injury, and emotional and psychological trauma; He has been, and will be required to, expend large sums of money for medical treatment and care, medical supplies, rehabilitation and therapeutic treatment, medicines and other attendant services; His general health, strength and vitality have been impaired; He has been and will in the future be unable to enjoy various pleasures of life that he previously enjoyed, and he has suffered from a loss in wages.”
For a lone count of negligence, the plaintiff is seeking in excess of the jurisdictional limits for compulsory arbitration, together with court costs, interest and all other relief the Court may deem just and equitable.
The plaintiff is represented by G. Christopher Apessos of Apessos Law, in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-22-014322
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com