Whatcom County jury reaches verdict in Costco negligence lawsuit
A jury has ruled that Costco Wholesale was not negligent in a personal injury lawsuit brought by a Deming woman who was struck by a freight cart driven by an employee at the Bellingham Costco.
Heather Bradford, who filed the lawsuit against Costco in July 2021, said that as she was shopping, an employee hit her side with a freight cart while she had her back turned.
The cart was loaded with furniture boxes, and the lawsuit said the impact caused Bradford to “spin and twist awkwardly.” The following day, she woke up with pain in her neck, shoulder and back.
Bradford had to pay thousands of dollars in medical bills out of pocket, according to the lawsuit, and she claimed Costco did not offer any assistance or follow-up even after she filed an incident report.
“All they did to her was point a finger,” said Bradford’s attorney, Lisa Saar.
Saar asked the jury to award Bradford at least $100,000 to make up for her past and future medical expenses and other impacts on her quality of life.
“Unfortunately, the only way we can get justice today is through money,” Saar said.
She asked the jury to find Costco 100% responsible for the negligence that led to Bradford’s injury. Kimberly Reppart, who represented Costco, said that Costco and Bradford shared responsibility equally.
“This was an accident,” Reppart said in her closing argument.
She agreed that Bradford was owed some money, and said the jury should award her $2,000 for each medical appointment she attended in the roughly four months following the incident and $10,000 in general damages.
A doctor hired by Costco to examine Bradford in September 2024 said that Bradford’s muscle strains were “fully resolved” by physical therapy by the end of November 2018, and that the pain she reports now may be due to something else she developed since then.
Bradford was also seen by a doctor hired by her attorney, who testified that her injuries were permanent and also caused by the incident at Costco. He said future medical care will likely cost Bradford at least $100,000.
Bradford testified at the trial that she continues to have pain to this day, though she’s learned how to better manage it over the years and has been able to return to many of the activities she enjoys.
“It has been seven years,” Bradford said. “I know that it’s my new normal.”
She said she used to be “Happy Heather,” but since the incident, she’s been struggling. She testified that the injury has affected her personal relationships as well.
“Costco has a duty to keep its customers safe,” Saar said.
After one day of deliberation, jurors determined that neither Costco nor Bradford were negligent.