Vigeant v. Linens N' Things

Jury Awards Woman $508,000 for Brain Damage Caused by Package

Huguette Vigeant was a woman who had always had high energy and was able to do many different tasks at once. This changed after a package fell from a shelf at the defendant's store and struck her on the head. At first the doctors thought that it was a mild concussion that would clear up. Ultimately, however, it was determined that Ms. Vigeant had a preexisting congenital aneurysm and that when the package struck her head, it caused the aneurysm to leak blood.

The defendant denied that it did anything wrong and contended that all of Ms. Vigeant's problems were caused by the aneurysm itself and did not have anything to do with the individual's accident or brain damage.

Biren Law Group displayed evidence from the neurosurgeon who operated on the aneurysm and a neurologist that established that Ms. Vigeant should have recovered fine from the brain surgery and her diminished capabilities were the result of damage caused by the bleeding. If the accident had not happened, she would have been fine once she recovered from the surgery. The jury concluded that the store had negligently stacked the package and that the accident was the cause of most of Ms. Vigeant's current problems.

The jury awarded Ms. Vigeant $508,000 for her case.