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Court upholds $10 million verdict in Walmart case

11/7/2011

New York City -- A truck driver who slipped and fell on ice and grease while he was making a delivery to a Walmart store in northern Colorado can collect a nearly $10 million award after the state Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict in the case on Monday, the Associated Press reported.



The 41-year-old driver Holly Averyt of Cheyenne, Wyo., had to undergo three spine surgeries, was unable to return to work and lost her truck. Her attorneys presented city documents during the original trial that showed some grease from the store's deli didn't get trapped in a device designed to keep it from getting into the sewer, the report said.



Wal-Mart Stores had told jurors there had been no grease spill at the store in Greeley.



A jury awarded $15 million to Averyt in November 2010. Justices reduced the award amount by about $5 million due to a state cap on non-economic damages.



Wal-Mart appealed and a lower court granted the company a new trial. But the Supreme Court's ruling on Monday threw out the order for a new trial.

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