It’s not the kind of prick you are thinking – it’s the just-as-undesirable Sleeping Beauty kind of prick. A South Carolina woman was in a Target parking lot when her young daughter picked up a needle, reports al.com (Alabama). Horrified, the mother, Carla Denise Garrison, swatted the needle away and ended up getting stuck herself. She went into the store to seek treatment and later visited a doctor.
Garrison was tested for HIV and hepatitis after the needle stick. Results of both tests were negative but drugs prescribed to treat a possible HIV infection made her sick and bedridden.
The woman sued Target and offered to settle for $12,000, an amount that she said would cover her health costs and the loss of income while her husband missed work to care for her. Target offered her only $750 and the case went forward. Now the company has been ordered to pay Garrison $4.6 million.
I’m at a complete loss as to how Target is responsible for the injury in the first place, unless its parking lot is riddled with drugs and drug paraphernalia. And why smack a needle out of somebody’s grip when calm instructions to “hand it over” would be so much safer?
Target would have been better off to settle for $12,ooo, even though that money would have represented a desire to avoid further damages and not a statement of responsibility. It’s truly unfortunate that Garrison was harmed, but $4.6 million is ludicrous. Even if she contracted a disease, Target is still not responsible, in my opinion. If I trip in a parking lot, or step on gum, or back into someone’s car or have my door dinged by a shopping cart, these are all experiences I put in the “stuff happens” category.
Target plans to appeal.
Read the article here.
