Delaware Man Gets $2.9M for Injuries at Home Depot

January 23, 2009

A jury in Wilmington, Delaware has awarded $2.9 million to a self-employed contractor who was injured at a Home Depot store when a stack of 18 wooden doors fell from a shelf above him.

Thirty-two-year-old Ronald Payne was injured in 2001 at the store in Christiana.

Payne's attorney, James Hall, says Payne needed two operations on his back but neither could fully repair the injuries and he still can't work. Hall says Payne suffers from depression, has lost his home to foreclosure and is separated from his wife.

The jury award was three times larger than the amount suggested by Payne's attorney.

An attorney for Home Depot did not return calls Wednesday.
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Information from: The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal