Rivera v. Sam's Club Humacao

• Decision Date: 28 September 2018
• Docket Number: Civil No. 16-2307 (ADC)
• Citation: 386 F.Supp.3d 188
• Parties: Lainey Ann RIVERA, Plaintiff, v. SAM'S CLUB HUMACAO, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

386 F.Supp.3d 188

Lainey Ann RIVERA, Plaintiff,

v.SAM'S CLUB HUMACAO, et al., Defendants.

Civil No. 16-2307 (ADC)

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

Signed September 28, 2018

Doris Quinones-Tridas, Quinones Tridas Law Office, PSC, San Juan, PR, for Plaintiff.

Alberto G. Estrella, Kenneth C. Suria-Rivera, Estrella, LLC, San Juan, PR, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

AIDA M. DELGADO-COLÓN, United States District Judge

There are several pending matters before the Court in this case. Defendant Wal-Mart of Puerto Rico, Inc., d/b/a Sam's Club Humacao ("Wal-Mart") filed a motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 37 . Plaintiff Lainey Ann Rivera ("plaintiff") filed a response in opposition. ECF No. 48 . Wal-Mart filed a surreply after seeking leave of the Court. ECF No. 55 . Plaintiff also filed a motion for sanctions due to spoliation of evidence simultaneously with her opposition to summary judgment. ECF No. 47 . Wal-Mart opposed the motion for sanctions. ECF No. 54 .

Prior to ruling on summary judgment, the Court referred the spoliation matter to a Magistrate Judge for mediation, evaluation, and adjudication as deemed appropriate. ECF No. 57 . The Court subsequently referred the summary judgment motion for a report and recommendation ("R&R") based on the interrelationship of issues between the two motions. ECF No. 68 . The Magistrate's R&R recommends granting summary judgment in favor of Wal-Mart, which would moot plaintiff's spoliation motion. ECF No. 69 . Plaintiff timely objected to the R&R. ECF No. 70 . Wal-Mart filed a response to plaintiff's objection. ECF No. 71 .

For the reasons explained below, the Court hereby REJECTS the R&R. ECF No. 69 . The motion for summary judgment at ECF No. 37 is DENIED and the motion for sanctions based on spoliation of evidence at ECF No. 47 is GRANTED .

I. Background

The question at the heart of this negligence case is how plaintiff's father, Roberto Eric Rivera-Mojica ("Roberto"¹ ), fell while visiting a Sam's Club warehouse in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Upon returning home from Sam's Club, Roberto experienced several seizures and lost consciousness. Two days later, he died in a hospital from a cerebral hemorrhage

. ECF No. 1.

A. Undisputed Facts²

1. Wal-Mart of Puerto Rico, Inc. is a domestic corporation that does business as Sam's Club in Puerto Rico, which is one of the several business formats that Wal-Mart uses in Puerto Rico. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 1; 48 at 6.

2. Wal-Mart owns and operates the Sam's Club warehouses in Puerto Rico, including the one located at the Humacao Plaza in Humacao. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 2; 48 at 6.

3. Roberto and his mother, plaintiff's grandmother, Ada Mojica ("Ada"), visited the Sam's Club in Humacao Plaza on Tuesday, July 14, 2015, arriving around 2:00 p.m. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 11; 48 at 6. Plaintiff was not in Puerto Rico this day. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 7; 48 at 10.

4. Roberto drove Ada and himself to Sam's Club. ECF No. 48 at 6.

5. Roberto and Ada were at Sam's Club for about two hours. Id.

6. At Roberto's behest, he and Ada looked at a patio swing on display in the front of the store, near the cash registers. That day was the first time Ada saw this swing. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 2; 48 at 6.

7. Roberto sat on the swing while Ada used the restroom. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 2–3; 48 at 6.

8. Ada did not notice anything abnormal about the swing, but she was not paying attention to whether there was anything abnormal about the swing. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 3; 48 at 6.

9. When Ada returned from the restroom, approximately five minutes later, Roberto was lying on the floor, face up, underneath the swing, with the seat of the swing hovering above his chest. Ada did not see Roberto's fall. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 3; 48 at 7.

10. Yojaris Cruz-Castro ("Supervisor") was a Front-End Supervisor at Sam's Club working on the day of the incident. She did not see Roberto's fall, but she ran to attend to him after she heard people yelling for her. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 5–6; 48 at 8–9.

11. Supervisor saw Roberto lying on the floor under the swing. She called a manager for assistance. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 6; 48 at 9.

12. Cashiers and customers moved the swing off of Roberto. Supervisor helped him to a chair and gave him rubbing alcohol to aid with his dizziness. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 6; 48 at 9.

13. Luis Robles ("Assistant Manager") was an Assistant Store Manager for Sam's Club working that day and he arrived at the scene of the incident in response to Supervisor's call. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 5; 48 at 9.

14. Supervisor was not present when Assistant Manager spoke with Roberto and Ada. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 6; 48 at 9–10.

15. An incident report was not completed while Roberto and Ada were at the store. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 6; 48 at 10.

16. Ada did not talk about the condition of the swing to any of the people that she spoke to at Sam's Club on the day of the incident. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 7; 48 at 10.

17. Ada paid for their items at Sam's Club and the two left the store. Ada drove the car and stopped at a nearby Wal-Mart to conduct a brief errand, during which time Roberto stayed in the car. After that, they went home. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 4; 48 at 8.

18. Wal-Mart does not contest that Ada filed an incident report with the police on July 19, 2015. The report described a fall at Sam's Club. ECF Nos. 37-9; 42-1 .

19. Wal-Mart does not contest that Ada filed an incident report at Wal-Mart within two weeks of Roberto's fall. ECF Nos. 37-9 at 7; 47 at 8; 54 at 5.

20. Wal-Mart does not contest plaintiff's assertion that the Sam's Club anticipated customers would engage with the display swing but had not placed any signs around the swing despite its obvious potential for injury. ECF Nos. 1; 47-3 at 21.

B. Disputed Facts

The parties dispute whether Supervisor or Assistant Manager ever offered Roberto an ambulance or an opportunity to complete a written statement ECF No. 48 at 10. They also dispute what visible signs of injury Roberto exhibited after his fall. In its proposed uncontested facts, Wal-Mart focused on Ada's statement that she did not notice any visible injuries when she returned from the restroom. Plaintiff opposed, noting that Ada described Roberto as complaining of leg pain immediately after the incident, of needing to hold onto the shopping cart for walking-assistance, and of feeling too unwell to exit the vehicle during their brief errand before returning home. Plaintiff also noted that Supervisor described Roberto as limping

, dizzy, and talking slowly after the fall, while both Supervisor and Assistant Manager observed a red welt on the back of Roberto's head after the fall. ECF Nos. 37-4 at 13, 18; 47-1 at 19; 48 at 7–8. The Humacao Sam's Club Store Manager, José I. Ayerdi-Santiago ("Manager") recalled that Supervisor said Roberto was "clutching his belly" after his fall. ECF

No. 48-1 at 4.

Wal-Mart also omits the completion of this narrative from its statement of uncontested facts. According to plaintiff, Roberto returned home and experienced severe pain in his left leg and hip, lightheadedness, disorientation, and several seizures before losing consciousness. ECF No. 1 at 4–5. An ambulance transported Roberto from his home to Ryder Memorial Hospital.

Id. at 5. The providers at Ryder Memorial Hospital transferred him to Puerto Rico Medical Center, where, two days after his fall, doctors diagnosed Roberto as brain dead and removed him from life support. Id. Upon learning of Roberto's death, Supervisor and Manager visited Roberto's family to pay their condolences and offer to help with the funeral, during which time Ada told them that the swing caused Roberto's fall while another family member noted that Roberto had difficulty walking. ECF Nos. 48-1 at 9-11; 48-4 at 8, 12. Sometime after the incident, Ada returned to Sam's Club to complete an incident report. ECF Nos. 37-5 at 8; 48-7 at 10.

C. Procedural Background

Plaintiff filed the underlying complaint based on diversity jurisdiction, seeking damages for Wal-Mart's negligence on the theory that a defective swing caused Roberto's fall and subsequent death. ECF No. 1 . Specifically, plaintiff's complaint alleges that "co-defendants failed to exercise reasonable care to consider the foreseeable consequences of having a faulty manufactured or assembled swing exposed for use by customers, and/or encouraging its use, while having it [on] display without further warnings." Id. at 6. Wal-Mart answered the complaint and subsequently moved for summary judgment based on its assertion that plaintiff lacks admissible, non-hearsay evidence to prove the causation element of her negligence claim. ECF No. 37-1 at 21–23. Wal-Mart relies on the lack of eyewitness testimony, surveillance footage, and evidence establishing that the swing was defective or defectively assembled. Id. Plaintiff opposed the motion for summary judgment and concurrently filed a separate motion for sanctions due to spoliation of evidence, arguing that Wal-Mart intentionally destroyed relevant surveillance footage, the swing, and any documents it created in relation to an internal investigation of the incident. ECF Nos. 48 at 4; 47 .

II. Report & Recommendation Standard of Review

Magistrate judges are granted authority to make recommendations on summary judgment motions, but the ultimate resolution of dispositive motions remains at the discretion of the presiding judge. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72 ; accord Loc. Civ. R. 72(a)(4). A party may object to the magistrate's findings and recommendations within a specified timeframe. Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(2). The presiding district judge must review "de novo any part of the magistrate judge's disposition that has been properly objected to." Id. R. 72(b)(3). In conducting this review, the district judge is free to "accept, reject, or modify the recommended disposition." Id.

Plaintiff timely objected to the R&R, specifically challenging its findings of facts and the disposition of the intertwined summary judgment and spoliation issues, as well as the R&R's conclusion that plaintiff lacks admissible evidence in support...