ST. LOUIS - Victoria and Harrold Howard filed a complaint on Aug. 23 in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Sam’s East, Inc. for premises negligence and loss of consortium.
According to the complaint, on Dec. 18, 2019, Victoria Howard entered the premises of Sam's East with the intention of purchasing gift cards for her grandchildren for Christmas. Due to a very lengthy checkout line of holiday shoppers, Howard allegedly decided to leave the premises to return at a less busy time.
While proceeding through the exit of the store, Howard tripped and fell to the ground on a bubble created by two intersecting and overlaying mats, just outside of the second set of automated sliding doors, she says. While still lying on the ground, Howard was approached by an employee of Sam's East who said “you’re fine," and stated that because she could stand and walk, she couldn’t be injured, the suit says.
The same employee provided Howard with a Customer Incident Report for her to fill out and told her to “go home and put some IcyHot on it," the suit says. Howard was told that someone from the store would contact her, and no such contact was ever made, she says.
The Howards are represented by Nicholas D. Brown of the Law Firm of Thomas Sanfilippo and Associates, LLC. Sam's recently removed the case to St. Louis federal court.