Black v. Food Lion, Inc.

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

While shopping at a Food Lion grocery store, Maxine Black slipped and fell on the remains of a mayonnaise spill that had been previously cleaned by Food Lion personnel. In the ensuing damage action, removed to federal court, a magistrate judge awarded Black nearly $300,000— principally because she had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome, an elusive but debilitating affliction. Whether Black produced reliable expert evidence that her slip-and-fall injury caused fibro-myalgia is the fulcrum of Food Lion’s appeal. We conclude she did not. The Supreme Court’s…