--- title: "Grocery Store Customer Wins $292K After Shopping Cart Injury" meta: "og:description": "Jury awards $292,000 to woman struck by employee pushing shopping carts at Florida supermarket. Verdict covers medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering" "og:title": "Grocery Store Customer Wins $292K After Shopping Cart Injury" description: "Jury awards $292,000 to woman struck by employee pushing shopping carts at Florida supermarket. Verdict covers medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering" --- March 11, 2026 # **Grocery Store Customer Wins $292K After Shopping Cart Injury** Jury awards $292,000 to woman struck by employee pushing shopping carts at Florida supermarket. Verdict covers medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering [**Premises Liability**](https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury/jury-verdict/category/premises-liability) [**Personal Injury**](https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury/jury-verdict/category/personal-injury) ### **Outline** Author ![](https://media.jurimatic.com/cdn-cgi/image/q=70/profile_images/shared_image_1.webp) **Sohini Chakraborty****Sohini Chakraborty is a lawyer, with over two years of experience in legal research and analysis. She specializes in working closely with expert witnesses, offering critical support in preparing legal research and detailed case studies.** ![Article Image](https://media.jurimatic.com/cdn-cgi/image/q=70/images/Nieves_Rodriguez.webp) A Miami-Dade County jury awarded $292,000 to a customer who was struck by a large stack of shopping carts pushed by a supermarket employee while she waited at the customer service counter. The verdict found the grocery chain negligent for failing to ensure the safety of its patrons. ## Case Background This case arose from a personal injury incident that took place inside a Publix supermarket in Miami, Florida. Nieves Rodriguez, a local resident of Palmetto Bay, filed a negligence lawsuit against Publix Super Markets, Inc. in August 2021 in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County. Rodriguez brought two counts against the grocery chain: direct negligence and negligent hiring, retention, supervision, and training. Publix denied all allegations, raised multiple affirmative defenses, and demanded a jury trial. The case proceeded through litigation for approximately four years before going to trial in September 2025 before Judge Javier A. Enriquez. ### Cause On December 10, 2019, Nieves Rodriguez visited Publix Supermarket Store #215, located at 9420 SW 56th Street in Miami, Florida, as a regular customer. While she stood at the customer service counter waiting to exchange a scratch-off lottery ticket, a Publix employee pushed a large stack of nested shopping carts directly into her. The impact struck Rodriguez and caused serious bodily injuries. Rodriguez filed a negligence lawsuit against Publix Super Markets, Inc. in August 2021, alleging that the employee acted recklessly and that Publix failed to properly supervise, train, and manage its staff. ### Injury Rodriguez suffered bodily injuries that resulted in pain and suffering, disability, physical impairment, disfigurement, and mental anguish. She also experienced loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, required hospitalization and ongoing medical care, and incurred significant medical expenses. The injuries further caused lost earnings and diminished her ability to earn money. According to the complaint, these losses were either permanent or continuing in nature. #### Damages Sought Rodriguez initially sought damages in excess of $30,000.00, exclusive of attorneys’ fees and costs, covering past and future medical expenses, lost earnings and loss of earning capacity, and compensation for pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life. ## Key Arguments and Proceedings ### Legal Representation **Plaintiff:**Nieves Rodriguez (a/k/a Nieves Rodriguez-Morilla) · **Counsel for Plaintiff:**Richard Diaz, Esq. | Carlos Rigoberto Salazar Jr | Nicole M Diaz · **Experts for Plaintiff:** [Michael D. Freeman](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Michael-Freeman/1513952) **Defendant:**Publix Super Markets, Inc. · **Counsel for Defendant:**Jaime J Baca | Vanessa Marie Romero-Molina | Edward G Guedes · **Experts for Defendant:** [Jonathan R. Gottlieb](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Jonathan-Gottlieb/1554103) | [Paul Koenigsberg](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Paul-Koenigsberg/1522095) | [David L. Gushue](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/David-Gushue/1544206) | [Marilyn Pacheco](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Marilyn-Pacheco/1534163) ### **Claims** **Negligence** Rodriguez argued that Publix owed her a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of its customers and to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition. She claimed the employee who pushed the shopping carts into her acted within the course and scope of his employment, and that Publix was vicariously liable for his negligent and reckless conduct. Rodriguez contended that Publix failed to protect its patrons from foreseeable harm caused by its own employees. **Negligent Hiring, Retention, Supervision, and Training** Rodriguez also brought a separate claim alleging that Publix negligently hired, retained, supervised, and trained the employee responsible for the incident. She argued that Publix knew or should have known the employee posed a foreseeable danger to its customers and failed to take reasonable steps to screen, monitor, or remove him from service. ### Defense Publix denied liability and raised multiple affirmative defenses. The defense argued that Rodriguez was herself negligent and that her own carelessness either barred recovery entirely or reduced it under Florida’s comparative negligence principles. Publix maintained it did not have actual or constructive knowledge of any dangerous condition and asserted the situation was open and obvious to the Plaintiff. The defense further argued that Rodriguez assumed the risk, failed to follow warnings, and did not mitigate her damages. Publix also claimed that a third party outside its control may have caused Rodriguez’s injuries and that any negligence on its part was not the legal cause of her losses. Additionally, Publix challenged Rodriguez’s medical expenses as unrelated, exaggerated, and unreasonable, and argued her lost earnings claims were inflated. Publix invoked Florida Statute §768.0755, which governs premises liability for transitory foreign substances, and sought a setoff for any collateral source benefits Rodriguez received. ## Jury Verdict On September 18, 2025, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff, Nieves Rodriguez. The jury found that Publix Super Markets was negligent and that its negligence was a legal cause of Rodriguez’s injuries. The jury awarded Rodriguez a total of $292,000.00 in damages, broken down as follows: **Medical Expenses (Past):**$181,000.00 **Medical Expenses (Future):**$20,000.00 **Lost Earnings (Past):**$18,000.00 **Loss of Earning Capacity (Future):**$0.00 **Pain and Suffering, Disability, and Related Damages (Past):**$73,000.00 **Pain and Suffering, Disability, and Related Damages (Future):**$0.00 On September 23, 2025, Judge Javier A. Enriquez of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit entered the final judgment in accordance with the jury’s verdict. The Court ordered Publix Super Markets, Inc. to pay Rodriguez the full $292,000.00 award. The judgment carries interest at the statutory rate of 9.38% for the current year, with future interest at the prevailing rate under §55.03, Florida Statutes. The Court dismissed the case against all other parties and closed the matter. The foreperson of the jury was Alexander Morales. ### **Court Documents** [Complaint](https://exlitem.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/ContentMarketing/IQCe85lCjthDRYm00lJAE1ChAbfk9btgruZ9w3N3GJsRboU?e=eu4xhO) [Jury Verdict](https://exlitem.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/ContentMarketing/IQDTiHoOPuZNRakglpzylePhAb3xiqpCR9zuGhw0DxGFNWA?e=Lz1Gaz) [Share with Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury) [Share with X](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury&text=x) [Share with LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury) [Share with Email](https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury/mailto:?body=https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury&subject=email) [Share with WhatsApp](https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury%20whatsapp) ### **Find your next Expert Witness today** ![Sanjay Adhia](https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury/_ipx/q_80/user-default.svg) ###### **Sanjay Adhia** Forensic Psychiastry ![George Reis](https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury/_ipx/q_80/user-default.svg) ###### **George Reis** Forensic Imaging ![Maria Babinetz](https://exlitem.com/jury-verdict/grocery-store-customer-wins-292k-after-shopping-cart-injury/_ipx/q_80/user-default.svg) ###### **Maria Babinetz** Vocational Rehabilitation Find and retain experts without brokerage or upcharge. ### Looking for more? 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