Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint 1 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 

SAN ANTONIO DIVISION 

RAQUEL CONTRERAS, INDIVIDUALLY § CIVIL ACTION NO. 5:20-cv-137

AND A/N/F OF M.C. III, A MINOR § 

 § 

V. §

 § 

WAL-MART STORES TEXAS, LLC. § JURY TRIAL REQUESTED

PLAINTIFFS’ ORIGINAL COMPLAINT 

TO THE HONORABLE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT: 

NOW COMES Plaintiffs Raquel Contreras, Individually and As Next Friend of M.C. III, 

a minor, complaining of Wal-Mart Stores Texas, LLC, and for cause of action shows: 

PARTIES 

1. Plaintiffs Raquel Contreras, Individually and As Next Friend of M.C. III, a minor,

are citizens of the United States and residents of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. 

2. Defendant Wal-Mart Stores Texas, LLC (“Defendant Wal-Mart” or “Defendant”)

is a limited liability company formed under the laws of Delaware with its principal place of 

business at 702 S.W. 8th Street, Bentonville, Arkansas 72716. Defendant Wal-Mart can be served 

with Plaintiff’s Original Petition through its registered agent, CT Corp. System, 1999 Bryant 

Street, Suite 900, Dallas, Texas 75201. 

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

3. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1332 because: (1)

there is complete diversity of citizenship between all Plaintiffs and Defendant; and (2) there is 

more than $75,000 in controversy exclusive of interests and costs. 

Case 5:20-cv-00137-JKP Document 1 Filed 02/05/20 Page 1 of 6
Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint 2 

 4. Venue is appropriate in this judicial district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §139(b)(2) 

because this premises liability incident occurred in Bexar County, Texas within this judicial 

district. 

FACTS 

 5. Plaintiffs Raquel Contreras, Individually and As Next Friend of M.C. III, a minor, 

(collectively “Plaintiffs”) bring this suit to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in a 

premises liability incident that occurred on or about March 1, 2018. 

6. Plaintiffs were invitees and shopping at Wal-Mart store #3058, located at 918 

Bandera Road, San Antonio, Texas 78228. Wal-Mart store #3058 is a store that is open to the 

public for purposes of transacting business. Defendant Wal-Mart extended an implied invitation 

to Plaintiffs to enter its store, located at 918 Bandera Road, San Antonio, Texas 78228. 

7. As Plaintiffs were shopping at Wal-Mart store #3058, suddenly and without 

warning, a dangerous clothing rack in the children’s clothing section collapsed on Plaintiff M.C. 

III, a minor’s, head, causing him serious and permanent injuries. 

PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM OF NEGLIGENCE – PREMISES LIABILITY- AGAINST 

DEFENDANT WAL-MART 

8. Defendant Wal-Mart owned, operated, managed and controlled the subject 

premises at 918 Bandera Road, San Antonio, Texas 78228. 

9. Plaintiffs entered Defendant Wal-Mart’s premises with Defendant’s knowledge and 

for their mutual benefit. Plaintiffs were invitees on Defendant’s premises at the time of the incident 

made the basis of this lawsuit occurred. 

10. The clothing rack which collapsed on Plaintiff M.C. III, a minor’s, head, constituted 

a dangerous condition. 

Case 5:20-cv-00137-JKP Document 1 Filed 02/05/20 Page 2 of 6
Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint 3 

11. Defendant knew or should have known of the dangerous condition, identified in 

paragraph 7 above, that posed an unreasonable risk of harm to Plaintiffs. 

12. Defendant owed a duty use ordinary care to ensure that the premises did not present 

a danger to Plaintiffs. This duty included the duty to inspect, the duty to adequately warn and the 

duty to make the condition reasonably safe. 

13. Defendant’s breach of this duty proximately caused Plaintiffs’ damages. 

14. As a result of the dangerous condition created by Defendant’s agents, servants or 

employees at the time and on the occasion in question, which acts and omissions constituted 

negligence, Defendant’s breach of its duty of care to Plaintiffs proximately caused damages to 

Plaintiffs, such acts or omissions of Defendant include the following: 

a. Failing to abate a dangerous condition on its premises; 

b. Failing to have the premises inspected for dangerous conditions and or hazards 

located on the premises; 

c. Failing to act with reasonable care to remedy the dangerous condition Defendant 

knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care, should have known was present; 

d. Failing to make safe the dangerous condition Defendant knew or should have known 

of; and 

e. Failing to warn of an unreasonably dangerous condition on the premises. 

DAMAGES 

15. Each of the aforementioned acts and omissions constituted negligence on the part of 

Defendant Wal-Mart and were a proximate cause of the occurrence in question and the injuries and 

damages sustained by Plaintiffs. 

Damage for Plaintiff Raquel Contreras 

16. As a result of the occurrence described herein, Plaintiff Raquel Contreras, has 

sustained the damages described herein as follows: 

Case 5:20-cv-00137-JKP Document 1 Filed 02/05/20 Page 3 of 6
Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint 4 

a. Reasonable expenses of necessary medical care incurred by M.C. III, a minor, in 

the past; and 

b. Bystander claim for mental anguish on behalf of Plaintiff Raquel Contreras, who 

was near Plaintiff M.C. III, a minor, at the time the Defendant’s clothing rack fell 

on M.C. III, a minor’s head, causing him serious injuries. Plaintiff Raquel Contreras

suffered shock as a result of the subject accident, wherein she experienced a direct 

emotional impact from a sensory and contemporaneous observance of her child’s 

accident. 

17. All of the injuries and damages sustained by Plaintiff Raquel Contreras were 

proximately caused by the negligent acts of the Defendant sued herein. 

Damages for Plaintiff M.C. III, a minor 

18. As a result of the occurrence described herein, Plaintiff M.C. III, a minor, has 

sustained the damages described herein as follows: 

a. Reasonable expenses of necessary medical care that, in reasonable probability, 

M.C. III, a minor, will incur in the future; 

b. Physical pain and mental anguish sustained in the past; 

c. Physical pain and mental anguish that, in reasonable probability, M.C. III, a minor,

will sustain in the future; 

d. Physical impairment sustained in the past; 

e. Physical impairment that, in reasonable probability, M.C. III, a minor, will sustain 

in the future; 

f. Disfigurement in the past; and 

g. Disfigurement that, in reasonable probability, M.C. III, a minor, will sustain in the 

future. 

19. All of the injuries and damages sustained by Plaintiff M.C. III, a minor, were 

proximately caused by the negligent acts of the Defendant sued herein. 

USE OF DOCUMENTS AT TRIAL OR PRETRIAL PROCEEDINGS 

 20. Plaintiffs intend to use at one or more pretrial proceedings and/or at trial all 

Case 5:20-cv-00137-JKP Document 1 Filed 02/05/20 Page 4 of 6
Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint 5 

documents produced by Defendants in this case in response to written discovery requests. 

JURY DEMAND 

21. Plaintiffs hereby exercise their right to and make a demand for trial by jury and 

have tendered the appropriate fee to the Court. 

MISNOMER 

22. In the event that Plaintiffs have misspelled the name of a party or incorrectly 

identified the entity (such as Inc. versus L.L.C.), Plaintiffs plead misnomer. 

PRAYER

 WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Plaintiffs pray that the Defendant be cited and 

be commanded to appear and answer this lawsuit in the time and manner prescribed by law and that 

upon final hearing thereon, Plaintiffs be awarded a Judgment of and against the Defendant in the sums 

sued for herein, for costs of Court in this behalf expended, for prejudgment interest on the amount 

awarded as damages at the legal rate from the date of accident to the date of judgment, and thereafter 

at the post-judgment rate until paid, exemplary damages, and for such other and further relief to which 

these Plaintiffs are entitled in law and in equity and as this Court may deem just and proper. 

Respectfully submitted, 

BRYLAK & ASSOCIATES, L.L.C. 

__________________________________ 

TOM BAGBY 

Federal ID No. 

Email : tom@brylaklaw.com 

AVERIE MALDONADO 

Federal ID No. 2545934 

amaldonado@brylaklaw.com 

WALLACE BRYLAK, JR. 

State Bar of Texas No. 03283360 

Email: wbrylak@brylaklaw.com 

15900 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 19245 

San Antonio, Texas 78230 

Case 5:20-cv-00137-JKP Document 1 Filed 02/05/20 Page 5 of 6
Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint 6 

Tel: (210) 733-5533 

Fax: (210) 558-4808 

and 

Miguel E. Dilley 

State Bar of Texas No. 24058330

miguel@dilleylawfirm.com

DILLEY LAW FIRM

635 S. Presa 

San Antonio, Texas 78210 

Tel: (210) 225-0111 

Fax: (210) 228-0493 

Attorneys for Raquel Contreras, Individually and As 

Next Friend of M.C. III, a minor 

Case 5:20-cv-00137-JKP Document 1 Filed 02/05/20 Page 6 of 6