Wrongful Death Suit Granted Retrial

Rootstown, OHA quest to shoplift from a Giant Eagle grocery store turned tragic for a 31-year-old man when he was caught and restrained outside of the grocery store by two Giant Eagle employees.

Now the man's family has been granted a retrial to have their case heard again after Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals made the decision to throw out the original jury's verdict that did rule in favor of Paul Niksanen's family. However, the ruling did not require any damages to be paid by the grocer.

In the 2006 trial, a 6-2 decision found that the man should not have died for stealing just under $300 in groceries, but that by struggling with the two Giant Eagle employees, he contributed to his own death. It was also found that the two workers involved in the restraining of Niskanen were negligent in causing the man's death, but that they did act appropriately when restraining him.

However, the appellate court found that the original judge who heard the case, Judy Hunter, was not correct she did not allow for punitive damages to be paid by Giant Eagle. The punitive damages were not awarded because the jury felt that Niskanen contributed to his own death.

In the original ruling, the jury agreed in a 6-2 decision to award Niskanen's family $500,000 in pain that Niskanen had experienced before his death. The other $500,000 was awarded to his family for the loss of his life despite the jury's belief that he was 60% responsible for his death. It was voted 6-2 by the jury that the Giant Eagle workers had acted in self-defense, which has been ruled as irrelevant in the appeals court ruling to grant a retrial.

The day the incident occurred; Niskanen was filling a cart up with groceries and went directly to the parking lot without purchasing the groceries at the checkout counter. Both a manager and a bagger approached him in the parking lot, where Niskanen attacked the bagger, according to witnesses. While police were being called, the two employees and two passers-by struggled to restrain Niskanen while awaiting the arrival of the police. While the four men were on top of Niskanen, the force to his torso and neck caused him to die of asphyxiation. Initially, it was ruled by the County Coroner that the death was a homicide, but the jury did not wish to indict those who were involved in the restraint.

By Ginger Gillenwater