This page is about personal injury lawsuits against Walmart. Our lawyers look at settlement compensation payouts in Walmart injury cases, what you can expect if you have an accident claim against this retailer, and how to increase the settlement amount you receive for your case.
Everyone knows Walmart. It is the world’s largest company by revenue and the largest non-governmental employer. It is the most frequently sued private personal injury claims defendant in the United States.
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Walmart Injury Claims
Walmart is sued nearly 20 times daily, close to 5,000 times each year. Many of these lawsuits have been brought by Walmart’s employees, who allege employment discrimination and wage and hour violations, mostly involving overtime.
Our law firm handles only severe injury and wrongful death personal injury cases. This article is about personal injury tort claims against Walmart. Most typically, they are slip and fall or other premises liability cases, truck accidents, negligent security, or pharmacy malpractice cases.
Can you sue Walmart if you are a customer and suffered an injury due to their negligence? Most likely, you can. How do you sue Walmart or convince them to settle? Your best path is to hire the best lawyer that you can.
Why a Walmart-specific page? Walmart is a prominent defendant. Some aspects of suing Walmart and fighting this company in court differ from dealing with other companies. It does not reflect any particular animosity our lawyers have towards Walmart.
A quick survey of our law firm shows that almost all of our lawyers and paralegals shop there. You cannot avoid Walmart and Amazon in 2025. But Walmart is the rare large company that is even-handed when it comes to claims and litigation. Walmart plays hardball from the incident report to the appeal of your verdict. Walmart litigation will be a battle, and your lawyer needs to be ready to go.
Walmart has a reputation in accident claims for being particularly aggressive. In some ways, the company is like its shoppers. Walmart wants to get the best deal that it can. But, in this case, Walmart getting the best deal means not giving the victims the reasonable compensation they deserve for the harm it caused. That is not justice.
Walmart Personal Injury Claims – FAQ
Will Walmart settle out of court?Yes, but rarely without a fight.
Walmart has a reputation. It earned it. It fights claims aggressively and without hesitation. That is not an accident. Walmart wants to discourage injury claims. It wants you to think it is not worth the battle. That mindset protects its bottom line.
But Walmart does settle out of court. All the time.
It is not because they feel generous. It is because verdicts are expensive. Trials are risky. And bad press is worse. When you file a lawsuit against Walmart and do it the right way, you shift the pressure back to them.
That means you need leverage. You need strong facts. You need medical documentation. And you need the best lawyer to sue Walmart — someone who has done it before and knows how to get results.
We know the playbook. They delay. They deflect. They downplay everything. They will tell you your injuries are not serious. They will blame you. They will offer pennies and expect you to take it.
They want you to get frustrated and walk away.
But if your case is prepared the right way — from the beginning — you take that power away from them. You put them in a position where settling makes more sense than fighting. That is how you get a real settlement amount.
Walmart does not hand out fair settlement payout offers just because someone files a claim. The only way to get justice is to be ready for a fight. If you are ready to go to court, that is when they are ready to settle.
Sometimes. But Walmart is emboldened in smaller cases. It knows the risks of going to trial are lower when the injuries are not permanent or well-documented. There is no question surgery is one marker for injury severity.
Walmart understands how juries think. Without a clear argument for permanent injury, there is less chance of a large verdict. That gives Walmart more confidence to drag its feet or offer very little. It is a cold calculation — not personal, just business.
Walmart injury settlements without surgery are usually of lower settlement value. That is just the truth. Big verdicts are built on big injuries. And nothing signals “big” to a defense team like surgery. Especially spinal fusion, hardware installation, or procedures with long recoveries.
But that does not mean your case is worthless. You may still have real pain. You may still have lost wages. You may still have a permanent injury that does not require an operation but still changed your life. These cases still have value. But the value is harder to prove.
That is why you need a lawyer who knows how to build that value into your case. Someone who knows how to present your treatment, your symptoms, and your losses in a way that Walmart takes seriously.
Our lawyers have handled plenty of injury claims where there was no surgery, and still recovered fair compensation. But it was not because we hoped for it. It was because we built the case like we were going to trial.
That is the only way to get a fair offer from Walmart.
Walmart does not handle them in the same way as most companies. They do not use a regular insurance carrier. They created their own — it is called Claims Management, Inc.
CMI handles everything. It acts like an adjuster. But it is part of Walmart. Not neutral. Not independent. Their job is to protect Walmart’s money.
This is important. If you are dealing with them directly, you are walking into a trap. They are trained to ask the right questions. To twist your answers. And to use your words against you later. Be careful. Better yet, get a lawyer who knows this game.
Yes. If Walmart’s negligence caused your injury, you absolutely can sue. The most common claims are slip and fall accidents, falling merchandise, and injuries caused by unsafe conditions.
Negligence means Walmart failed to act with reasonable care. Maybe they ignored a spill. Maybe they left a hazard in an aisle. Maybe their employee hurt you with a pallet jack. If that happened, Walmart can be held accountable.
You just need to prove it. That is where we come in.
There is no true average. Every case is different. Walmart injury settlements depend on the facts. Type of injury. Extent of treatment. Medical bills. Lost wages. Long-term impact. Strength of liability.
We have seen cases settle for $25,000. We have seen others settle or go to verdict for over a million dollars. Walmart does not publish its settlements. Most are confidential. But we know what they tend to offer — and what they will fight to avoid paying.
Walmart plays hardball. If you want your full settlement payout, you must push back.
You can, but it is not easy. Emotional distress must be tied to something more. In most cases, you must also have a physical injury. That is the law in most states.
If your case involves serious trauma, like being hit by equipment, attacked on the property, or severely injured, then emotional distress becomes part of the case. We include it as part of the damages.
But you cannot sue Walmart just for being rude. It must be real. And it must be provable.
Walmart fights. Hard. They do not care much about headlines. They care about precedent. They do not want to be seen as an easy target.
They often make low offers, hoping you will take what you can get. They stall. Delay. Ask for more paperwork. Then delay again. If you do not push back, they win.
But if you are willing to go the distance, with the right lawyer, Walmart will settle. Because in the courtroom, facts still matter. And juries care about fairness.
You start by making a claim. That goes to Claims Management, Inc. You will be asked to give a statement, sign releases, and send medical records.
Do not do this on your own. This is not a simple process. Walmart has been through it thousands of times. You have not. They will try to get you to say the wrong thing or accept a low settlement.
If the claim does not resolve, we file a lawsuit. Then we move toward trial. Most cases settle somewhere along the way. But only when they know you are serious.
You need someone experienced. Someone who has dealt with Walmart before. Someone who understands how they defend these cases — and how to beat them.
Walmart is not a small business. You cannot bluff your way to a good result. You must have evidence. You must have a plan. And you must be willing to go the distance.
That is what we do. We do not back down. We know what it takes to win.
How Does Walmart Handle Claims?
How does Walmart handle claims against it? They fight them.
How does that work? Walmart has set up a subsidiary called Claims Management, Inc., which acts as its own third-party insurance adjuster. Claims Management manages, values, and tracks Walmart accident claims. It does all the legwork on processing claims, getting information from the victims, trying to get recorded statements, etc.
You will feel like you are dealing with a separate company, which might give you the feeling that you are dealing with a third party who might treat you more fairly. Ultimately, you are dealing with Walmart.
Where Are the Big Walmart Settlements as Opposed to Verdicts?
Walmart has good lawyers. Any significant settlement with Walmart will have the tightest confidentiality clause you have ever seen. So Walmart keeps the lion’s share of the settlement compensation payouts it makes under tight wraps.
Walmart Fights Like an Insurance Company… But Harder
Generally speaking, fighting against a large corporation is easier than fighting an insurance company. Why? Because insurance companies often have in-house counsel — paid attorney employees — to challenge their claims.
Even big companies need to hire lawyers. This makes settling claims before a lawsuit is filed more advantageous. Big companies often do not want their reputations besmirched by being the subject of many lawsuits. The corporate image also acts as an incentive to settle cases more quickly.
Walmart appears to care little about these things. It acts a lot like an insurance company. It does not fear its reputation will be tarnished by litigation (unless maybe someone really famous is involved). It is not particularly concerned about legal fees.
The one way Walmart’s policy in injury cases differs from that of an insurance company is that it fights harder. The company aggressively challenges personal injury lawsuits even when it makes economic sense to settle the claim. This is probably to discourage the filing of lawsuits. But it has not worked. Lawyers are suing Walmart every day. Even Walmart cannot take every case to court, and most of them end with an out-of-court settlement.
But win or lose, this retail giant desperately wants to make plaintiffs’ lawyers feel like they have been in a fight when they sue Walmart or even bring a claim against it. Getting documents from them in litigation is always World War III. Judges around the country have sanctioned Walmart for failing to produce documents and frustrating legitimate fact-finding by the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Can Walmart be beaten in an accident claim? Absolutely. The deciding factor in most lawsuits against Walmart or any other defendant in this country is the facts. The side that should win usually does win.
That is the good news. The bad news in the average settlement on a Walmart claim is that you will have to fight to get what you deserve. Most Walmart settlement offers will be significantly less than the fair value. Getting fairly compensated will likely require you to retain a personal injury lawyer.
How much can you sue Walmart for? There is no limit, other than the caps some states may have on damages in personal injury lawsuits.
Walmart Verdicts and Settlements Payouts
Below are summaries of some successful verdicts and settlements around the country. We did not pull these at random, so please do not think these are a representative sampling or that they can tell you by themselves the value of your or your client’s case, even if you have similar facts.
Where are the significant Walmart settlements as opposed to verdicts? Walmart has good lawyers. Any big settlement with Walmart will have the tightest confidentiality clause you have ever seen.
January 2025 – Florida – $6,486,717 Verdict
A shopper visiting a Walmart in Okeechobee, Florida, was seriously injured when a store employee operating a pallet jack struck her legs, causing her to fall backward onto the hard floor, where she lost consciousness. The injuries were severe, requiring both cervical and lumbar fusion surgeries—two of the most difficult spinal procedures to endure at the same time. Recovery involved extensive medical treatment, hospitalization, and years of chiropractic and pain management care. The lawsuit alleged Walmart’s negligence in failing to train employees and maintain a safe shopping environment. Walmart attempted to argue that the injuries were pre-existing and that damages were speculative, but the jury found otherwise. They awarded $6,486,717, including $3 million for future pain and suffering and over $2.1 million for medical expenses.
March 2024 – Georgia – $300,000 Verdict
A slip and fall on WD-40 at a Walmart. The defense was the defense as it always is in these cases: we did not know of the slippery surface. But this case led to a police investigation. They looked at store footage capturing the incident. This video showed that about 22 minutes before the woman’s fall, a Walmart employee checked the area of the spill but left without taking any action, walking away from it. Additionally, a witness’s account in the police report highlighted that he heard conversations about the spill among Walmart employees. Inexplicably, even with these facts, Walmart took the case to trial and lost there and on appeal.
February 2024 – California – $2,450,000 Verdict
A woman fell into a pothole in a store parking lot in San Diego. She required spinal fusion surgery and endured lasting pain and medical costs. Walmart was faulted for not enforcing its own safety policies (the pothole had been there for a long time). A California jury awarded a woman damages after finding Walmart and a co-tenant partially liable for injuries she sustained.
October 2022 – Maryland – $154,379 Verdict
While browsing the produce area of a Walmart store, the a woman’s left foot made contact with an empty cart with four wheels that had been placed on the floor to hold additional bananas beneath the table’s banana exhibit. The woman fell after tripping over the cart. The plaintiff alleged that she had experienced harm, which included tears in her right hip, hamstring, and thigh, as well as a Grade IV chondromalacia patella in her left knee.
March 2020 – Florida – $266,100 Verdict
A woman suffered (unspecified) permanent injuries after slipping and falling on Walmart’s wet floor. She claimed that Walmart failed to maintain safe premises and failed to warn of hazardous conditions. The woman sought compensation for pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, medical bills, and lost wages. Walmart claimed no knowledge of the hazard. The jury found the woman 65 percent liable and Walmart 35 percent liable. They awarded a $266,100 verdict.
January 2020 – Florida – $572,988 Verdict
A woman slipped and fell on an unknown substance in a Walmart grocery aisle. She suffered permanent injuries. The woman claimed the company failed to maintain safe conditions. Of course, Walmart denied liability, arguing that the woman’s negligence caused her injuries. The jury found the store 100 percent liable and awarded the woman a $572,988 verdict.
February 2019 – West Virginia – $16,900,000 Verdict
Plaintiff, a 52-year-old grandmother, was shopping at her hometown Walmart with her granddaughter in the shopping cart. Store security had caught a known shoplifter and detained him near the back of the store. The shoplifter then attempted to flee from security and ran the plaintiff over on his way out, knocking her over, and the shopping cart with the granddaughter fell on top of her. The plaintiff suffered major abdominal injuries that internally damaged her intestines, requiring numerous surgeries, over 20 hospitalizations, and leaving her permanently dependent on a feeding tube. The plaintiff hired a personal injury lawyer who sued Walmart, claiming that its security staff was negligent in attempting to detain the shoplifter who had run from them on previous occasions. Walmart denied any wrongdoing and blamed the shoplifter. The jury awarded $16.9 million, the largest verdict in the history of West Virginia.
June 2019 – Colorado – $583,040 Verdict
A man on crutches requested an electric cart. The back support collapsed as he sat in the cart, causing him to fall backward. His knee also became caught on the cart’s handlebars, preventing him from falling onto the floor. The man suffered soft-tissue spinal injuries. He claimed that Walmart should have known of the defective carts and failed to warn customers of the hazard. Walmart denied responsibility, arguing that the man’s injury was pre-existing. The jury found Walmart 75 percent liable and the man 25 percent responsible. They awarded a $583,040 verdict to compensate the man for medical bills, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
June 2019 – Washington – $325,000 Settlement
Here is a rare exception to the “good Walmart settlements don’t get reported” rule. A 70-year-old man slipped and fell on water leaking from a mini-refrigerator at a Walmart. He suffered leg and ankle fractures that required multiple surgical procedures. The man claimed that the mini-refrigerator had been leaking for several hours and that Walmart failed to clean it up. This case was settled for $325,000.
May 2017 – New Jersey – $25,000 Settlement
A boy was with his mother shopping at Walmart store #2109 in Millville, New Jersey, when he tripped and fell over snow shovels left on the aisle floor. He sued Walmart for negligently allowing a dangerous condition to remain on the property and failing to warn and sought damages for “unspecified injuries” and medical expenses resulting from the trip and fall. Walmart settled the case out of court for $25,000.
July 2016 – Ohio – $81,500 Verdict
A 51-year-old woman was shopping at Walmart and was pushed backward and fell while pushing a shopping cart as a pallet jack/pallet being pushed down the same aisle by a Walmart employee struck her cart. She claimed that she suffered disc herniations with chronic radiculopathy, a partially torn rotator cuff, and other soft tissue injuries. Walmart admitted liability but disputes the alleged damages. Walmart rejected the plaintiff’s $110,000 settlement demand, and a jury awarded the plaintiff $81,500 in damages.
July 2016 – Missouri – $6,000 Settlement
A minor was with her parents at a Walmart in Raytown, Missouri, and she slipped and fell on a wet floor and suffered unspecified injuries. Her mother filed suit on her behalf, and the case was promptly settled for $6,000.
May 2016 – Pennsylvania – $17,500 Arbitration Award
The plaintiff was walking on the sidewalk in front of his local Walmart store when he tripped on an elevated edge of the concrete and fell and hit his face and head. He allegedly suffered a maxillofacial fracture, three lost teeth, a cervical strain, and multiple contusions and abrasions. He filed a Walmart lawsuit, alleging it failed to maintain the condition of the sidewalk and negligently created a tripping hazard. Walmart denied any hazardous condition on the premises and argued that the plaintiff failed to watch where he was walking. An Arbitration Board in Allegheny County awarded the plaintiff $17,500.
February 2016 – New York – $59,000 Settlement
A 13-year-old girl overdosed on her prescribed prednisone after a Walmart pharmacist mislabeled the prescription bottle, which caused her to take more of the medication than prescribed by her physician. The overdose caused temporary hair loss, vomiting, muscle cramping, and shaking, putting her in the hospital for two days. The case was settled for a total of $59,520, $30,000 of which was put into an annuity for the benefit of the minor.
March 2013 – Texas – $199,112 Verdict
A 42-year-old clerical worker slipped and fell while walking in the meat department of an El Paso Walmart. She was taken by ambulance to a local emergency room, where she was treated for disc herniations and bulges, a sprained right ankle, an annular tear, and a torn ligament in her right knee. Her Walmart lawsuit claimed the employees had washed the concrete floor with a mechanical scrubber that had been excessively filled with soap and used an incorrect mop. The plaintiff also claimed that the defendant failed to place wet floor signs. The defendant denied liability, claiming the floor had thoroughly dried at the time of the fall. The defense lawyer also argued the plaintiff’s disc injuries were pre-existing conditions. An El Paso jury found Defendant liable for Plaintiff’s injuries and returned a $199,112 verdict.
Getting a Lawyer to Fight for You
Our lawyers handle Walmart severe injury and wrongful death personal injury claims. Our focus is on serious injury and wrongful death claims. We do not handle smaller cases. (If the injuries are not very serious, you can always fill out a contact form, and we will forward it to a lawyer handling these cases in your area, if we know one).
We are lawyers who sue Walmart. If you have been injured as a result of the negligence of this company, we may be able to help you. You can get a free Internet consultation. If you have a claim, we will call you to discuss your legal rights and options.
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