Tommy Rassier says he was using a toilet stall at a Lowe's Home center in Pinellas Park on Aug. 18th when something terrible happened.
According to a lawsuit filed in Pinellas Circuit Court, Rassier was about to sit down when a person unknown to him pushed open the stall door knocking Rassier "in the head and neck with the door," pushing him "back into and against the toilet."
Rassier thought the stall door was locked and faults Lowe's for failing to maintain the door's locking mechanism. The suit says Lowe's was negligent in permitting a dangerous condition.
Rassier alleges he suffered bodily injury, disfigurement, mental anguish and other problems from the encounter.
His lawyer, Joshua Chilson, said it's an unusual case but a valid one. "Bizarre things do happen and that doesn't mean the case is without merit," Chilson said.
Chilson said Rassier suffered dramatic neck pain when the bathroom stall door hit him and suffered "a herniated disc in his spine." No one called 911 to report the incident.
The person who knocked Rassier in the toilet didn't stick around to leave his name and there were no other witnesses to the mishap, Chilson said.
Chilson said he does have photographs of the broken lock that show several holes indicating the mechanism might have been moved around previously in a failed attempt to make it work properly.
A manager at Lowe's referred questions to Lowe's public relations office in North Carolina. Company Spokeswoman Karen Cobb said Lowe's does not comment on pending lawsuits. She would not say whether Lowe's had performed any maintenance on the lock after the incident.
Rassier's wife, Deborah Sue Lamay Rassier, is also a plaintiff in the suit.
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