CHARLESTON – The defendant in a premises liability case is petitioning to move the suit from state to federal court.
Home Depot USA Inc. filed the petition May 5 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Charleston Division.
In the original complaint, Harold E. Mynhier, as executor of the estate of Twila Faye Mynhier (deceased), filed a lawsuit March 30 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Home Depot, alleging premises liability and negligence.
The suit says Mynhier was injured in a fall April 2, 2014 while entering the Home Depot store at Cross Terrace Boulevard in Charleston, allegedly as a result of the store’s failure to place caution signs around the automatic entrance doors.
Home Depot says the case falls under federal jurisdiction because the parties are in different states and the amount in question is more than $75,000.
Mynhier seeks a jury trial, general and special compensatory damages to be determined at trial, and interest and litigation costs. He is represented by Charleston attorney G. Patrick Jacobs of the Law Office of G. Patrick Jacobs.
Home Depot is represented by attorneys W. Barry Montgomery and Brian A. Cafritz of Kalbaugh, Pfund & Messersmith P.C. in Richmond, Va.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Charleston Division Case number 2:16-cv-4197