CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Jason Kafoury delivering his opening statement
Portland, OR - An Oregon state court jury heard opening statements Monday in a potentially $33.5 million premises liability lawsuit filed by a woman alleging she sustained a major traumatic brain injury after slipping in a puddle on the floor of a Kroger-owned Fred Meyer Grocery Store, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Maria Torres sued Fred Meyer following a fall in 2023 that she alleges resulted from water leaking through the ceiling from a rooftop parking lot. Her attorneys argue Fred Meyer employees knew about the leak for years without taking action, stating in public court filings they would seek $6 million in compensatory damages and $27.5 million in punitive damages.
Fred Meyer denies any liability for the accident, characterizing the leak as an “emergent” issue that developed too quickly for staff to realistically clean up before Torres fell and suggesting the long-term effects of her brain injury are less severe than described by her attorneys.
Subscribers to CVN’s trial video library get unlimited live and on-demand access to the full trial, including all witness testimony. Coverage also includes time-synced digital images of exhibits and demonstratives. Along with this trial, CVN subscribers get access to hundreds more featuring many of the top civil trial attorneys practicing today. It’s like Netflix for trial lawyers.
During Monday’s opening statements, plaintiff attorney Jason Kafoury of Kafoury & McDougal told the Multnomah County jury how Torres, who was 71 at the time of the accident, kept up a busy, rigorous schedule before suffering an injury he characterized as “life altering.”
He explained how the water leaked through the ceiling from a floor drain in the parking deck and collected near a checkout aisle, telling jurors he would present testimony from numerous Fred Meyer employees stating they saw items like towels and buckets on multiple prior occasions to deal with leaks from the parking deck, which Kafoury insisted was a long-running, well-known issue.
“Store employees, store managers, assistant store managers, high-level supervisors at Fred Meyer that were on dozens and dozens and dozens of stores, all knew that when it rained that parking deck, parking deck F, leaked at that exact same spot for decades before this,” he said during his opening statement.
Kafoury detailed how Torres suffers from balance issues and severe tinnitus, suggesting she could potentially live for decades more given the lifespan of her late centenarian mother and would need increasing levels of assistance as the symptoms from her brain injury worsen over time.
He didn’t specify a specific amount of damages during his opening but did tell jurors Fred Meyer's alleged conduct warranted a punitive award, with the ultimate total coming in at “millions of dollars.”
Representing Fred Meyer, defense attorney Aukjen Ingraham of Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt rejected the argument the leak was a long-running hazard and suggested Torres made a fuller recovery than her attorney claimed.
Ingraham presented surveillance video that she said showed multiple customers walking through the exact spot Torres slipped without difficulty in the moments immediately prior to her fall, which she said supports the position the leak developed too quickly for store employees to notice and clean up.
“What we’re really talking about is how long that water was on the floor, and was it unreasonable for Fred Meyer not to clean it up,” Ingraham asked the jury.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Aukjen Ingraham delivering her opening statement
Ingraham said Fred Meyers had the roof drain inspected immediately after the accident, and that the results showed the drain didn’t leak before or after the day in question. Ingraham acknowledged prior leaks into the store from other locations in the parking deck, but she insisted those were all entirely separate from the specific leak at issue in the trial and unrelated.
Ingraham also told jurors she would put up experts who would testify that Torres largely recovered from her concussion, suggesting that current imaging doesn’t show any physical evidence of a long-term injury and that Torres was cleared to resume driving without restrictions.
The trial before Judge Steffan Alexander is scheduled to take roughly a week to complete, and CVN’s live and on-demand coverage, including all witness testimony, will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Maria Torres v. Fred Meyers Stores Inc., case number 25CV26588 in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
