Sam’s Club is a membership-only retail store owned by Wal-Mart. Sam’s uses a format similar to other membership-only warehouses. They offer a wide array of products often sold in bulk in order to maximize value to the customer. Sam’s Club has 12 different stores scattered throughout the state in Annapolis, Baltimore, Catonsville, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Hagerstown, Laurel, Owings Mills, Salisbury, Severn, Timonium, and Waldorf.
Sam’s Club is the brainchild of Wal-Mart and is named after its founder, Sam Walton. The company has been around since 1982 and is headquartered in Arkansas. As of 2024, Sam’s Club operates 599 warehouse stores across the United States. In 2023, Sam’s Club posted annual sales of $84.3 billion, which ranks second only to Costco.
These warehouse stores are dangerous. Not just Sam’s Club. They all are. There are just a plethora of things that can cause injury to one of the store’s customers. Sam’s Club locations are typically packed with people traversing through small aisles, which are nestled between intricately stacked displays and pallets. Add in a legion of employees who could be undertrained or inexperienced and might be operating equipment… it is hard to avoid accidents when you combine these elements.
Our law firm handles serious injury—and only serious injury claims against Sam’s Club. If you have a claim, call us at 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.
Accidents at Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club stores, especially during peak hours, can feel like navigating a busy highway with no traffic lights—accidents are bound to happen. Packed aisles filled with shoppers and towering stacks of merchandise create an environment where even a small misstep can lead to serious injuries. But it’s not just the crowds that contribute to these dangers. Employees, who are often undertrained and forced to use heavy machinery to move large quantities of products, add another layer of risk. Compared to other retail stores, Sam’s Club puts significant responsibilities on its staff, but in an effort to keep costs down, they offer wages that often do not attract or retain the best workers. This combination of high employee turnover, underqualified workers, and heavy workloads makes mistakes all too frequent.
Accidents become inevitable when Sam’s Club fails to maintain a safe environment. Stores like this should be held accountable when their negligence results in injuries to their customers. Through premises liability lawsuits, we work to ensure that our clients—those harmed by preventable accidents—get the compensation payout they deserve.
Bringing a Case Against Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club is essentially Wal-Mart who owns the company. Wal-Mart fights hard. You need an attorney who can fight back. An attorney will research the case to determine whether Sam’s Club was liable for any injuries suffered. In doing so, they investigate whether their client was 1) injured on Sam’s Club property; 2) injured because of a hazardous condition that was present due to Sam’s Club’s negligence; and whether 3) Sam’s was negligent in their responsibility to keep them safe. Although it is impossible to keep every store 100% safe, Sam’s has a duty to ensure that their stores are kept reasonably safe.
How Sam’s Club Deals with Claims and Lawsuits
Sam’s Club does not have its own claims department. It typically handles its claims adjustments through Walmart’s in-house risk management and claims team. Walmart has a dedicated department responsible for processing and adjusting claims, including those related to Sam’s Club. This department manages everything from premises liability claims (like slip and falls) to product liability issues.
In addition to their internal team, Walmart and Sam’s Club also utilize third-party administrators (TPAs) as its claims department in certain cases, particularly more complex or high-value claims. One known TPA that has worked with Walmart is Claims Management, Inc. (CMI), which handles a large portion of Walmart and Sam’s Club’s liability claims. CMI is a subsidiary of Walmart and is responsible for adjusting personal injury and liability claims related to incidents occurring at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. Our lawyers have never enjoyed dealing with CMI.
So, naturally, Sam’s Club inherits much of Walmart’s aggressive approach to handling lawsuits. Walmart has a well-documented reputation for defending claims with vigor, and this strategy often extends to Sam’s Club locations as well. When someone files a personal injury or premises liability lawsuit against Sam’s Club, the company typically does not lean toward early settlements. Instead, they explore every possible avenue to defend themselves, challenging just about everything you throw at them.
So Sam’s Club invests heavily in legal defenses, assembling experienced legal teams who are well-prepared to engage in long litigation battles. Their goal is to minimize payouts and discourage frivolous claims by making the litigation process as lengthy and challenging as possible. But a good case is a good case and Sam’s Club has a lot of really good lawsuits filed against it. Accordingly, when the company sees that the odds are stacked against them, such as when there is overwhelming evidence of negligence, they shift gears and negotiate a settlement.
Do You Have to File a Sam’s Club Incident Report to Bring a Claim?
You do not have to file a formal incident report with Sam’s Club to bring a claim against the company. Filing an incident report can greatly strengthen your case…or hurt it. There is no clear cut answer. It depends on the case.
Filing an incident report immediately after an accident documents the event and creates an official record, which can serve as crucial evidence in proving that the accident occurred and that Sam’s Club was made aware of the hazard or dangerous condition. This report can help prevent the store from disputing basic facts about the accident and helps establish liability. Without an incident report, you may face more challenges proving your claim, as Sam’s Club could argue that the incident either didn’t happen or wasn’t as serious as claimed. Even if you didn’t file an incident report, you can still pursue a claim, but you will likely need additional evidence such as witness statements, photos, or medical records to support your case.
However, especially in serious injury lawsuits, filing an incident report can also have significant downsides. When you fill out the report, you are providing details that could be used against you later in the claim process. In the immediate aftermath of an injury, you might not fully understand the extent of your injuries or the exact circumstances of the accident. Any inaccuracies or omissions in the report could weaken your case. For example, if you unintentionally downplay your injuries or misstate facts about the accident, Sam’s Club and its insurance adjusters may use those discrepancies to dispute your claim.
Additionally, Sam’s Club employees may subtly—or not so subtly, as the case may be—encourage you to provide information that minimizes the store’s liability, such as suggesting that the accident was partly your fault or that the hazard was obvious and should have been avoided.
So, again, there is no clear cut answer which is why contacting a lawyer is often your best bet.
Sample Sam’s Club Lawsuit Settlement Amounts and Jury Payouts
Settlement amounts in lawsuits against Sam’s Club, much like with its parent company Walmart, largely depend on the plaintiff’s ability to prove negligence. If the plaintiff can demonstrate that Sam’s Club failed to provide a safe environment or neglected to address known hazards, it greatly increases the potential settlement amount. For example, if employees knew about a spill in a busy aisle or improperly stacked merchandise but failed to act, this can result in higher compensation for the injured party. Clear evidence that the store ignored safety protocols or did not follow its own procedures can elevate the value of the case significantly.
Aside from proving negligence, the nature and severity of the injuries play a critical role in determining settlement amounts. Factors like medical expenses, lost income, and the long-term impact on the individual’s life are taken into account. However, Sam’s Club, like Walmart, is known for its aggressive defense strategy, often dragging out the litigation process and challenging the strength of the plaintiff’s evidence. Without solid proof of negligence, and in cases involving minor injuries, the settlement amounts tend to be much lower.
Here are some sample verdicts involving Sam’s Club and the stories behind the lawsuits. These are sample cases. Please do not think of them as perfect predictors of your case’s value. But sometimes samples in conjunction with other resources can be instructive.
- 2023, Illinois: $250,000 Settlement: The store reportedly had a covered customer loading area immediately adjacent to the exit door for customers to load purchased items in their vehicles. It also allegedly allowed third parties to use the area between the exit door and loading area to prepare and/or sell items, including food and beverages. The plaintiff said she slipped and fell on a foreign substance between the exit door and the customer loading area. She sued in state court and the case was removed to federal court.
- 2022 New York $30,000 Verdict – A 52-year-old female suffered a torn left medial meniscus when the shopping cart she was pushing, and which contained a large battery in its front end, fell on its side causing her to fall to the ground at the defendant retail store where she was a business invitee. The plaintiff hire a Sam’s Club accident lawyer who filed a lawsuit that contended that the defendant’s employee negligently failed to load the battery into the plaintiff’s vehicle from the cart, that the defendant negligently failed to provide personnel in a reasonable amount of time to assist the plaintiff remove the battery from the cart and failed to provide suitable access to unload heavy items.
- 2021, Georgia: $1,000,000 Verdict – The plaintiff was shopping at a Sam’s Club when she was allegedly struck by a flatbed cart being pushed by another shopper. She alleged that Sam’s Club was negligent in failing to maintain clear isles with sufficient visibility so as to avoid collisions of this nature.
- 2012, New Jersey: $1,000,000 Verdict – A woman is shopping for chicken at Sam’s Club that she intends to resell. A Sam’s Club employee stacks boxes of chicken on her cart, but does so to the point where the woman cannot see over the stacked boxes. As a result, she crashes into another woman. The other woman suffers a large laceration as a result of the crash and is confined to a wheelchair. She sues Sam’s Club and the customer who was pushing the cart. Sam’s attempts to pin all of the blame on the customer, saying they should have kept a better lookout. The case ultimately goes to trial, where the jury determines that Sam’s is 70% responsible for the accident, awarding the plaintiff $1,000,000.
- 2011, Florida: $789,000 Verdict – An elderly woman shops at Sam’s Club when an empty pallet cart bumps her. This causes her to fall to the ground, hurting both her wrist and her back. She is taken to the ER, where doctors diagnose her with a fractured wrist and aggravation to a previous back injury. She must undergo surgery on her wrist and her back. The woman decides to sue Sam’s Club, claiming that the cart should have been attended to by an employee. She alleges that she is prevented from doing a number of recreational activities due to her injuries. The defense claims that the injuries are related to age, not the fall. Regardless, the jury awards the woman $789,000, but finds her 2% liable for the accident.
- 2009, Maryland: $9,718 Verdict – A woman stops by Sam’s Club to buy an outdoor fire pit. She needs some help getting the pit down from a high display. As employees begin to lower the pit, it breaks loose and crashes into her arm. She suffers a wrist injury that requires surgery, and she claims to suffer a torn rotator cuff. She struggles using her right hand after the accident, and must primarily use her left hand to accomplish tasks. She sues Sam’s Club, claiming that the employees were negligent in handling the fire pit. Sam’s denied liability and questions the extent of the plaintiff’s damages. The plaintiff “won” this case but clearly the jury did not believe that all of her injuries were related to the accident or were as serious as she claimed. I’m sure Sam’s Club’s lawyer viewed this case a win.
Contact Us to Bring a Claim
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured due to Sam’s Club’s negligence, contact the attorneys at Miller & Zois. Our accident lawyers have years of experience when it comes to premises liability. Our law firm can put your case in a position win or get a favorable settlement. Call us at 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.