Action regularly has Buddha statues in the brochure — © Action
A 64-year-old man from Delft in the Netherlands received a Buddha statue weighing 4.5 kilograms on his head while shopping at Action. The man had to go to the hospital and took the store chain to court. But Action now agreed with the latter.
Not he but a woman wanted to take the Buddha statue from the racks. But apparently it was a little too high and she had underestimated the weight. The result: the 4.5-kilogram statue fell straight on the head of a 64-year-old man who was crouching at that moment to get something from the lowest store shelf. Store staff found him on the floor with a head injury and notified emergency services. The female customer then left the store without leaving her details.
The man is now demanding compensation from the store chain. “Action must take responsibility,” he tells AD.nl. He also hired a lawyer in the meantime.
According to the man, Action acted irresponsibly by placing the heavy statue on the highest rack. They must realize that this can lead to dangerous situations. He claims to have suffered permanent headaches from the incident. According to him, Action also breached its duty of care by not preventing the customer who dropped the statue from simply leaving the store. As a result, he was deprived of the opportunity to identify the woman and recover damages from her.
Unfortunate coincidence
Action, which regrets the incident, rejected all responsibility before the subdistrict court judge. These types of incidents are not taken into account when designing the stores. The statue stood 1.40 meters high, which is certainly not too high, it sounds. It sounds like every adult customer can take it off the shelves without any problems. An argument that the judge followed.
It is not the case, the judgment states, that Action is responsible for the careless behavior of the female customer in question. According to the subdistrict court judge, this is a “very unfortunate set of circumstances”. According to the court, the store is therefore not liable for the incident.
The man does not accept this and appeals.