Suit: Bar between cart corral at Menards caused customer's trip

A customer of a suburban home improvement store is suing after a trip she allegedly sustained while trying to get a cart.

Linda Spinelli filed suit Feb. 24 in Cook County Circuit Court against Menard Inc.

According to the complaint, Spinelli was at the Menards at 521 E. North Ave. in Glendale Heights on Nov. 10, 2013, when she tripped over a low bar running partially along the floor between two cart corral lanes, causing her to fall and injure her knee.

She claims she tripped over the bar after having to walk down the far left corral to retrieve the last large-bed cart, which ended up having a broken wheel, and then turning to get a regular cart from the other corral lane that was also nearly empty of carts.

Among other alleged acts of negligence, Spinelli accuses Menards of installing an unnecessary bar between its cart corral lanes that was a trip hazard to patrons and failing to paint it a bright color to alert patrons of the dangerous condition.

She is represented by Mariam L. Hafezi of Kaiser Law in Bensenville.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2015L001893.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note that a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and represents only one side of the story.