A Nairobi court has blocked Shoprite chain of supermarkets from leaving the country later this month until the case filed by one of their shoppers is heard.
In the case Patrick Alouis Maina has sued Shoprite claiming that while shopping at their Garden City Branch, a stack of plastic lids fell on him causing him injury.
In his ruling, Justice Antony Mrima has stopped Shoprite from removing or selling any of their assets from the county pending hearing of the case.
“Restraining the Respondent herein, Shoprite Checkers Limited, from selling transferring or concluding any sale or transfer of its business as a going concern,” the court ruled.
Judge Mrima said that in the event that Shoprite is allowed to leave Kenya as they intend to then it will be hard to enforce any order of the court.
“In order to strike a balance between the rival positions, and prior to determining whether this Court has the jurisdiction to deal with this Petition, it is only fair that an interim relief be granted,” the court ruled.
Maina had claimed that the supermarket had plans of closing down its shops in Kenya later this month.
Maina has accused Shoprite of negligence.
The father of two who was shopping with his family says he suffered several injuries swollen lips, lacerations on the lips and bleeding inside the mouth.
Maina further says other injuries that were not outwardly visible were splitting headaches, dizziness and temporary mental confusion.
Maina says the supermarket chose and maintained the unsafe method of stacking the container lids ostensibly to maximize shelf space for profit
They also failed to display a warning or safety notice near the unsafely displayed product.
He further claims that immediately after the accident happened, the management was informed but they refused to take him to hospital.
According to court papers, Maina then decided to use his phone to take photos of what happened and took himself to Avenue Hospital within Garden City.
Maina requested for First Aid and to be taken to hospital but the attendant claimed that he did not have any authority to do anything about the accident.
“Prior to the accident, Patrick had been developing, a complex financial Services software product with innovative features, but since then he has been unable to complete it due to the anxiety induced by the accident,” reads court papers.
According to court papers, since the accident Maina’s brain gets tired faster than before and he finds it harder to deal with levels of complexity that were previously easy for him.
He further argues that he has missed out on numerous future opportunities and anticipated income around the world that he would have initiated and or pursued had the accident not disrupted his life and cognitive abilities.