A North Kansas City man wants to have his day in court to obtain compensation for injuries allegedly caused by negligent acts of Sprouts Farmers Market.
Russell Wolfe, 53, filed a personal-injury lawsuit on May 19 against the Sprouts Farmers Market located at 6061 NW 64th Street in Kansas City in Platte County, alleging he was injured by their “wrongful acts or negligent conduct.”
According to the suit, Wolfe was walking down an aisle on March 8, 2019 when he suddenly stepped on grapes and a “slippery substance” on the hard floor of the neighborhood grocery store, which opened in April of 2015 in the Village of Burlington Creek development.
Wolfe slipped on the slimy substance and fell to the floor, injuring his “tibia, fibula, knee and ankle,” court documents allege.
“Due to his injuries, paramedics were called and transported Mr. Wolfe to North Kansas City Hospital by ambulance for medical care,” the suit says.
Wolfe’s injuries caused him to suffer “pain and discomfort to his right leg,” and resulted in lost wages and medical bills, according to allegations in the lawsuit.
Wolfe’s attorney, Gary Haggerty of Brancato Haggerty & Palmentere L.C., claims the incident was a result of the negligence of Sprouts.
Negligence is a tort, also deemed a civil wrong, and Haggerty will argue his client is entitled under tort law to obtain compensation.
The suit claims Sprouts should have known of the floor’s condition and that the slippery substance on the floor was unsafe to patrons. Sprouts Farmers Market “failed to use ordinary care to remove, barricade or warn of this condition prior to Mr. Wolfe slipping and falling on the grapes and slippery substance,” the suit alleges.
Earlier this year, a circuit court judge approved a $15,500 settlement in a minor’s claim in a personal-injury lawsuit out of Jackson County Circuit Court. The out-of-court resolution was reached before the patron and Sprouts went to trial.
