The nondescript man paid for his items in the express lane. As he was going out, Barney Milford was coming back in. If the man had purple hair, Barney would still not have seen him. His eyes were adjusting from the bright sunlight of the parking lot to the indoor light of the grocery store. But the man did not have purple hair. He looked just like every other shopper that had come into the store that day or any other day. As Barney Milford's eyes adjusted, the nondescript man just walked past him and melted into the parking lot.
Garner Bullis was just past his thirteenth birthday and was nervously awaiting his initiation into the clan of the grifters. His uncle came out of the store and gave him a sign that the set up had been done successfully. Garner entered the store, picked up a box of Milk Duds from the candy aisle and headed toward the back of the store to the comic books rack. A few minutes later Garner came walking briskly down the produce aisle carrying his box of Milk Duds and three Action Comic Books. He was whistling a jazzy rendition of Dixie that was far enough off key to arouse the attention of Barney Milford who had just hung his Florida Gators hat on a coat hook by the time clock. Barney looked up just in time to see Garner's foot go out from under him as he slipped on the squashed grapes. The comic books flew into the air like a flock of startled pigeons. Garner let out a horrified scream as one foot flew up at an odd angle and the other collapsed under him at an even odder angle and twisted to one side. Barney's blood ran cold. With all those funny angles something terrible had to have happened.
"Call an ambulance," Barney screamed to no one in particular as he raced down the produce isle to the spot where Garner had landed in a twisted pile. Garner was half on his back and half on his side with his left leg twisted under him and his right leg twisted across the left. His left arm was sticking straight out over his head and right arm was behind him surreptitiously keeping his balance in this unnatural position. Barney took off his apron and balled it up under Garner's head trying to make him more comfortable. He straightened out the left leg and then the right while Garner continued to cry, and writhe in pain. An ambulance showed up within ten minutes and whisked Garner away to Duval County General Hospital.
At Duval County General, a battery of tests was performed on Garner to determine the extent of his injuries. There were no broken bones, no internal injuries, and no injuries to his skull - yet Garner still complained of pain in his lower back and both tingling and numbness in his left leg. Of course he had done his homework. He knew exactly which pains would indicate damage to his spinal cord. Yet he didn't want to give a textbook account so he threw in enough red herrings to throw off any cynical investigators. He complained of itching on the back of his leg and a pain in his upper back when he breathed.
The chief of thoracic surgery at Duval General interrogated Garner about his injuries suspecting something that he could not put his finger on. Garner stayed cool. He had rehearsed this scenario many times at home and was just doing his lines as though he were in a play. But the chief surgeon was not so easily convinced. In an inspired ad-lib Garner parted from his script and offered an insight to the interrogator.
"The numbness started when he straightened out my leg."
"What are you talking about," snapped the surgeon. "Are you saying that the ambulance crew moved your leg before putting you on a back board?"
"No sir. No the ambulance crew. The guy in the grocery store."
"What guy in the store?"
"The one in the Gator's hat. He came over right after I fell and straightened out my legs. I think he was trying to make me more comfortable. But when he moved my left leg, it felt numb on the lower part."
With that, the surgeon stormed out of the room. Five days later, Garner Bullis was released from the hospital with a limp, lower back pain, numbness and tingling in his left leg, and a pending lawsuit against the Duval Publix.
Publix Grocery Stores, Inc. should have just settled the claim out of court. But they were naïve. They felt that Garner should have watched where he put his feet and that Barney Milford had done the right thing by calling an ambulance and then attempting to make Garner more comfortable. But the jury did not see it that way.
Garner's lawyer made Publix Grocery Stores seem negligent in their attitude that people should watch where they put their feet. He argued that people have a reasonable expectation that they can go to the grocery store and not feel like they are crossing an obstacle course. The members of the jury, all of whom had been to the grocery store sometime in last week or so heartily agreed. At this point Publix Grocery Stores looked like the bad guys and there was nothing they could do to turn around the impression that Garner's lawyer had created. Had they stopped there, Garner probably could have walked away with an easy hundred thousand dollars, but his lawyer decided to push it. Next he claimed that Publix Grocery Stores was not only negligent but irresponsible. They were irresponsible because they let Barney Milford moved Garner's body even though standard procedure for an injury of this type was to strap the victim to a back board and brace his neck before moving him to avoid further injury to the spinal cord. Council for Publix Grocery Stores protested that the company could not be held responsible for the actions of one of its employees. It was an enormous tactical error. Garner's attorney responded that people should be able to go to the grocery store and not feel that they have to protect themselves from the employees of the store. Again, the jury members, all of whom had been in a grocery store within the last week or so agreed that this was a reasonable expectation. The council for Publix realizing that things were going very much in the wrong direction tried to invoke the Good Samaritan statues. But it was a weak defense and viewed by the jury as a last ditch attempt to cover the store for an incident in which it was clearly negligent, irresponsible and liable.
Good Samaritan statues exist in many states to protect innocent bystanders who view an accident and then try to aid the victims. The idea behind them is that it is better for citizens to try to help accident victims that to ignore them. So if a citizen tries to help, but in doing so actually does further injury they cannot be held liable for that injury as long as they were acting in good will with the best interests of the victim in mind.
But Garner's lawyer argued that Barney Milford was not acting as a private citizen, he was acting as an agent of Publix Grocery Stores. Hence, the Good Samaritan statues did not apply. The jury bought the argument and awarded Garner Bullis a half a million dollars in damages.
Had the attorneys for Publix not been so naïve they would have poured over Garner's testimony and noticed that he had referred to Barney Milford as the man in the Gator's hat. Actually, Barney had removed his Gator's hat and hung it on a hook by the time clock. When he went over to help Garner, he was not wearing a hat. The only way Garner would have known about the hat was if he were scoping out the place in preparation for his fall. But they were not so disposed.
Whether or not the council for Publix Grocery stores were incompetent is a question for trial lawyers to debate. They came in with a "blame the victim" strategy rather than a more sensible "damage control" approach. Their arrogance and indifferent to the suffering of the victim incensed the jury and cost the company a lot of money. Again refusing to accept blame for their faulty strategy, they reported back to corporate headquarters that they had lost the suit because of the irresponsible actions of Barney Milford.
Barney had been put on administrative leave while the suit was ongoing. Even though he was getting paid, he hated having to stay home every day. He felt as though he was no longer in control of his destiny. The assistant store manage in charge of produce was now just a distant dream.
Barney was pacing around the kitchen like a caged tiger when the telephone rang. It was his assistant manager from the Duval Publix.
"Barney," he began. "I have some bad new for you. Corporate has decided that it was your fault that we had to pay out the half mill on the lawsuit. They wanted me to fire you outright. I argued that you have been a model employee up until this event and that we shouldn't just fire you because of one little mistake."
"Mistake?" said Barney. "I was just trying to help the kid."
"So what we decided," his boss went on, " is that we would keep you on, but you will have to go back to being a cashier. Corporate doesn't feel that we can trust you with the daily receipts, at least not until this all blows over."
"But the receipts balance to the penny every day," protested Barney. "I've never had a short fall."
"I know," agree his boss, "but we have to go along with corporate. You can come back tomorrow if you want."
"Sure," said Barney. "I'll see you in the morning."
With that Barney lit a cigarette and went out on to the front porch to sort through all that was happening. Instead of the twenty five percent raise that he was looking forward to, he would be getting a twenty percent cut in pay. He wouldn't be able to cover his bills. They would have to move into a smaller house. His wife would lose respect for him. His son, now three months old would have to wear hand me down clothes. In his present state of mind Barney did not think about the fact that his son was an only child and that there was nobody to hand clothes down to him. He only thought about the indignities of his youth and how they were all coming back again in spite of all he had done to move up in the world.
"There is no justice," he thought. "Life really isn't fair!" His anger at the world swelled in his chest until he could not get his breath. He felt like he was trying to burp up a billiard ball.
"What's the matter honey?" his wife said coming out onto the porch and over to his side.
Barney tensed. Then, in a moment he would regret for years to come, he flicked his cigarette against the brick wall of their small home. Sparks showered down on the concrete stoop.
"I don't have to take this shit!" he proclaimed, gagging on his anger. "I just don't have to take it!" With that he walked into the night and out of the life he had worked so hard to build.