Mississippi Jury Awards $2.5 Million to Kroger Store Beating Victim

April 13, 2009

A Hinds County (Mississippi) Circuit Court jury awards $2.5 million to a Jackson woman who lost sight in one eye when purse-snatchers beat her in a supermarket parking lot.

Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes before finding that The Kroger Co. was negligent and should pay 63-year-old Linda Knox for the attack in June 2007.

She declined to comment. Her attorney had asked jurors for $4 million.

Kroger attorney Bill Luckett of Clarksdale says the store will ask Circuit Judge Winston Kidd to overturn the award, and probably will appeal if he refuses.

One of Knox’s attackers was sentenced to 25 years in prison; prosecutors dropped charges against the other, who cooperated with them.

Knox’s lawsuit contended that the store should have had an armed guard in the parking lot, rather than inside the store.

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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger,