Amy Anderson and Sheldon Brenner obtain not guilty verdict in legal malpractice case
A worker’s compensation attorney had been retained to represent a Walgreens’ employee who had been injured in the store room at Walgreens when 4-5 pallets of 20 oz. bottles of soda fell on her upper back and neck. Plaintiff alleged that she advised the attorney that the products that fell on her were Pepsi products that had been stacked by a Pepsi delivery driver on the day of her injury. She filed suit against the attorney for failing to timely advise her of a potential third party action against Pepsi for her injuries. Four Walgreens employees testified at trial that Walgreens employees would move and rearrange the stacks of soda in the store room in order to stock the store shelves, the brands of soda were intermingled in the store room and the manager of the store would advise the delivery drivers where to stack the overstock. Further, no other employee remembered Pepsi being delivered the day of Plaintiff’s injury and there were no delivery documents to prove they were there that day. Plaintiff asked for $760,000 for permanent soft tissue injuries to her neck and back.
The jury returned a verdict in 25 minutes with the majority finding the attorney was not negligent and unanimously finding that Plaintiff had no case against Pepsi.