Home Depot spider lawsuit could have legs

Hardware stores make a huge effort to market their wide variety of home improvement and maintenance wares to customers, offering everything from toilets to duct tape. However, for one woman at a Florida Home Depot location, the store contained one thing she was not expecting: a "large, hairy tarantula-type spider" dropping from the ceiling and "nearly landing on her nose."

After she was surprised by the animal, the woman, Susan Padilla, jumped backwards in surprise and hurt herself in the process. She is now suing the company in Palm Beach County Court, according to Courthouse News Service.

In a surprising turn, it appears that the spider was no random occurrence, according to the defendant. In her lawsuit, Padilla stated that the animal is treated as a "pet" of sorts around the store.

"Defendant's employees stated to plaintiff they called the spider their 'pet' and said it liked to come out at night and look around," the suit states. "They allowed this dangerous condition to exist and exhibited a callous disregard for the safety of customers on their premises."

On October 9, 2011, Padilla says she was shopping in the home and garden section of the Juniper, Florida store at about 7:30 p.m. when the spider unexpectedly descended upon her. According to her lawsuit, the spider had constructed a web over the area where customers walked through the garden section. In shock, Padilla says she then jumped backward into a shopping cart and display shelves.

According to the news source, if there was in fact a web, it is unlikely that the spider was a tarantula as she claims, due to the fact that tarantulas do not weave spider webs.

Such details will be vital in the forthcoming trial proceedings. However, if local businesses want to keep themselves protected from lawsuits such as these, it's important that they seek out a Phoenix small business attorney, lest they find themselves in a sticky legal situation.

Categorised in: Asset & Liability Protection

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