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Dillard's blames escalator accident on girl's misuse

Employees suggest the child may have been playing on the device.

By JAMIE THOMPSON
Published January 28, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - One Dillard's employee said she heard someone yell, "You're going the wrong way," moments before a little girl's hand got stuck in a down escalator.

A second employee said she thought the girl may have jumped on the escalator moments before the accident.

"It was not a necessary accident," cosmetics clerk Aranka Molnar told a Pinellas jury Thursday.

But Molnar said she did not see the girl's feet and could not know for sure what happened when 5-year-old Kerriana Johnson's right hand got stuck in the down escalator Nov. 29, 2002.

The Seminole second-grader, now 7, lost three fingers in the accident. Her mom, Lori Medvitz, is suing the Arkansas-based retailer, saying the company didn't properly maintain its down escalator, which has ingested dozens of shoes, pant legs and dress hems in the past five years at Tyrone Square Mall.

Dillard's continued mounting its defense in the case Thursday, calling employees who testified that Kerriana may have misused the escalator.

Dillard's called experts who suggested that the emotional, financial and physical impact of the accident, while significant, may not be as severe as Kerriana's lawyers have suggested.

Many children have deformities, said Dillard's witness Wade Myers, chief of the division of forensic psychiatry at the University of Florida. Some children have an eye that points the wrong way. Others have burns, but live happy lives, he told the jury.

"It's just the way life is," he said.

"Well, it wasn't the way life was for her," said Kerriana's lawyer, Justin Johnson. "... She wasn't born like this."

Myers testified that "serious family issues" are at least equally responsible for Kerriana's psychiatric issues, mainly anxiety, as her damaged hand. He was restricted by the court from detailing those "issues."

Kerriana's lawyers countered by asking Myers if having three fingers ripped off by an escalator wasn't sufficiently traumatizing.

Myers agreed it was a significant injury but said Kerriana could have a fulfilling, happy life with proper therapy.

One Dillard's witness said she heard someone screaming, "You're going the wrong way," moments before the girl's screams filled the store on a Friday.

"It was a woman's voice," employee Cecilia Foulen told the jury. "... but I don't know who it was."

Kerriana's lawyers say she was not playing on the escalator.

Dillard's employee Dennis Lintz of Brandon told jurors he inspected the down escalator the day of Kerriana's accident and that it looked fine. Lintz was responsible for opening the store, receiving trucks and for daily inspections of the store's escalators.

That morning, Lintz said, he did a visual inspection of the down escalator and made sure the stop and start buttons worked properly.

He inspected the escalator's comb plate and made sure it wasn't missing any "teeth." The comb plate is a major protective device on an escalator, covering the space where the final moving step disappears into the base of the escalator.

Lintz said he did a "business card test" - a procedure that involves placing a business card on the escalator and making sure it doesn't get sucked in at the bottom, which would indicate an improper gap. The escalator passed the business card test the morning of Kerriana's accident, Lintz said.

Kerriana's lawyers maintain there was an illegal gap that sucked in her Barbie shoe, then her fingers. They say Lintz performed the test improperly.

Lintz, who has worked at Dillard's for about five years, told the jury he only performed the business card test that morning, never before or since. He said he had done it that day because it was one of the busiest of the year - the Friday after Thanksgiving.

But Kerriana's lawyers suggested Lintz's inspections were less than thorough. They showed reports on which he had checked off days that didn't exist - Feb. 29, for example. Lintz said he confused dates sometimes.

"Some days I forget what day of the week it is," Lintz testified.

Lintz said he was not an expert on escalators, did not have extensive training in them and the daily check was one of many jobs he was expected to do at Dillard's.

"That's not my sole job," he said.

One of the men responsible for the down escalator at Dillard's, Don Holloway, told the jury he had the escalator running again about three hours after Kerriana's accident. He said the escalator was safe.

"If it was not safe," he told the jury, "I would not have turned it back on."

Kerriana's lawyers say the escalator trapped another customer's shoe a week after the girl's injury.

A psychiatrist, Barbara M. Stein, testified that Kerriana's mother did not show signs of serious mental health issues because of the accident.

She disagreed with a doctor who testified this week that Kerriana's mother has a mental illness, manifested as a mild anxiety disorder, or panic attacks, after the incident.

"The bottom line is her responses have been normal responses of a normal human being," Stein said. "Not of a mentally ill human being."

Some evidence suggested Medvitz was "malingering," or exaggerating her suffering for gain, Stein said. Medvitz had given inconsistent testimony about how many panic attacks she's had in the months after Kerriana's accident, Stein said.

Kerriana's lawyers said Stein, who charges $300 an hour and a $3,500 fee for a court appearance and preparation, appeared to be a "professional witness" who spent more time working on court cases than interviewing patients. Stein said she does see patients.

"That is such a gross distortion and actually quite insulting," Stein said. Dillard's will continue its defense today. The jury is expected to begin deliberations by Monday.

[Last modified January 28, 2005, 00:20:16]