Harris v. ShopKo Stores, Inc.
Annotate this CasePlaintiff was injured at ShopKo Stores, Inc. when she sat on a display office chair and the chair collapsed. Plaintiff sued ShopKo for negligence. A jury found ShopKo negligent but awarded Plaintiff much less than she requested in damages. The court of appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial, concluding that the trial court erred in giving an instruction to the jury that it should apportion damages between those attributable to ShopKo's negligence and those attributable to Plaintiff's preexisting conditions. The court of appeals concluded that ShopKo was not entitled to the apportionment jury instruction because Plaintiff's preexisting conditions were asymptomatic on the date of the accident. The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals' grant of a new trial, holding (1) the court of appeals erred in taking a bright-line approach to analyzing preexisting conditions, which risks holding defendants liable for more damages than they proximately caused; but (2) the apportionment instruction was erroneous and prejudicial because ShopKo did not present evidence sufficient for the jury to apportion damages on a nonarbitrary basis. Remanded for a new trial.
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