A Villager who filed a lawsuit against a local Publix for more than $50,000 claims an employee “negligently” hit her with a U-boat cart as she “stopped to inspect a candle.”
The lawsuit was filed in the fifth judicial circuit court for Sumter County on Aug. 23 by attorneys representing Diane Riordan, who lives in the Village of Monarch Grove.
According to Riordan’s attorneys, Orlando-based Dellecker, Wilson, King, McKenna, Ruffier & Sos LLP, Riordan was visiting the Publix Super Market at Magnolia Plaza on Aug. 2, 2022.
Riordan’s attorneys allege that while she was walking in an aisle where the candles are located, she stopped to inspect a candle and, “suddenly and without warning,” she was “hit by a U-Boat which was operated by a Publix employee,” according to the lawsuit.
After she was struck by the cart, Riordan claims she “experienced a sharp pain in her left ankle and was knocked to the floor.”
According to the complaint, glass became “embedded” in Riordan’s hands and arms, and she experienced “pain in her right hip, shoulders, chest, back, arms, neck, and head.”
Riordan’s attorneys argue that the Publix employee failed to operate the U-Boat “in a safe manner” and created a “dangerous hazard” to the public.
They say the “foregoing negligence” lead to their client suffering “serious bodily injury” and “pain and suffering,” among other claims.
Riordan is seeking “damages that exceed the sum of $50,000,” exclusive of interest and costs.
The Publix at Magnolia Plaza opened in March 2021.
