Kroger Co. v. Elwood

Billy Elwood, a courtesy clerk at a Kroger grocery store, was injured when a customer shut her vehicle door on his hand while he was transferring items from a grocery cart to the vehicle. Elwood had placed one hand in the vehicle’s doorjamb, and one foot on the cart, to keep the cart from rolling down a slope in Kroger’s parking lot. In the trial court, a jury found Kroger liable for Elwood’s injuries; the court of appeals affirmed the judgment. Because Kroger had no duty to warn Elwood not to place his hand, in a doorjamb, and there is no evidence that additional equipment or assistance were…