Dollar Tree paid $1.75 million to settle a lawsuit from a customer who slipped on a egg

• A Dollar Tree shopper has settled a lawsuit for $1.75 million after she slipped on an egg.
• The incident reportedly happened in 2020 at a Dollar Tree store in New Jersey, per MyCentralJersey.com.
• Dollar stores like Dollar Tree and Dollar General have become more prevalent in recent years.

A shopper has reportedly settled a lawsuit with Dollar Tree for $1.75 million after she slipped on an egg at one of the retailer's stores.

The shopper, Peggy Brown, was in the refrigerated section of a Dollar Tree store in East Brunswick, New Jersey, in January 2020 when she slipped and fell, MyCentralJersey.com reported on Wednesday.

The culprit, according to the local news website, was a broken egg that Brown stepped on as she reached into one of the cooler cases. After the fall, Brown had to have surgery to remove a damaged disk in her spine, her doctor told a court, according to the article.

Dollar Tree's own medical witness in court proceedings said that Brown's injuries were the result of "degeneration" and not of the accident. The retailer denied any negligence on its part.

A spokesperson for Dollar Tree did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider on the case or the settlement.

Dollar stores like Dollar Tree have become a bigger part of America's retail scene in the last several years. Dollar Tree has about 16,000 stores, while rival Dollar General's store count is nearing 20,000, and the company has at least one store in each of the 48 contiguous states.

Stores at both chains have coped with health and safety hazards. Some Dollar General locations have aisles so cluttered by unpacked inventory that fire marshals have ordered them to close until they can tidy up.

Others, such as certain Dollar Tree stores, have had rodent infestations in stock rooms.

Staffing at both chains is scant, with just one employee on duty for hours at a time at some stores. One Dollar Tree shopper went viral on TikTok in August when she claimed she rang up her own purchases — and then those of other customers — when no employee was available to work the register.

Until this year, Dollar Tree distinguished itself by selling everything in its stores for $1.25. But executives said in June that Dollar Tree experimenting with selling products that cost up to $5 each.

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