Miami-Dade Jury Awards $4.8 Million After Winn-Dixie Shopper Needs Three Spinal Surgeries

Juan Del Valle was shopping at a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Miami Lakes when he slipped on water pooling from a leaking produce refrigeration case. The fall sent him to the hospital, and his injuries did not resolve with conservative care. Over the following months Del Valle underwent three spinal surgeries. Doctors placed metal plates and screws in his spine, hardware that would remain in his body for the rest of his life.

Del Valle and his wife Oslayda Vento filed suit against Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. Their legal team at Rubenstein Law, attorneys Raul E. Garcia Jr. and Meranda Reifschneider, centered the case on a straightforward negligence theory: the leaking produce case had created a known, persistent hazard, and Winn-Dixie staff could have fixed it or simply unplugged the unit to stop the water. They had not.

At trial, the plaintiffs introduced evidence of the extent and permanence of Del Valle's injuries, including the hardware now fused to his spine and the chronic limitations that followed. The defense contested the severity of the injuries and the store's responsibility for the leak, but the jury sided with Del Valle.

After deliberating, the jury returned a verdict of $4,877,775.85. The Daily Business Review, which covered the trial, reported that Garcia described his client as someone who 'went through hell and back.' The verdict ranked among Florida's notable personal injury results of 2018, according to TopVerdict.com's annual compilation of the year's top plaintiff verdicts in the state.

No appellate reduction of the award has been reported in publicly available records.