PLATTSMOUTH, Nebraska — A Nebraska widower has sued Walmart and the maker of its plastic shopping bags claiming that a broken bag led to his wife's death.

William Freis of Plattsmouth sued on behalf of his wife, Lynette, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. Lynette Freis went to the company's Bellevue, Neb., store on April 16, 2010, where a cashier used one plastic bag to hold two 42-ounce cans of food and a 2-pound bag of rice.

Freis' lawsuit claims that the bag broke as his wife carried the items to her car, causing one of the cans to fall on her right foot, breaking the big toe and causing a deep cut, the Journal Star reports.

The cut led to an infection that, despite two surgeries and several rounds of antibiotics, Lynette Freis was unable to fight off, the lawsuit states. She died on March 12, 2011.

The lawsuit, filed against Arkansas-based Walmart Stores Inc., the distributor of its plastic bags, Missouri-based Bunzl Distribution, and the manufacturer, Hilex Poly Co. of South Carolina, claims that Walmart failed to properly train employees to not overfill grocery bags and to double-bag heavier items, the Journal Star reports.

The suit also accuses the store of giving Lynette Freis a defective bag. Her husband is seeking more than $656,000 in medical expenses, plus an unspecified amount for her pain and suffering and funeral and burial expenses, as well as her husband's loss of consortium.

Neither Walmart nor the other defendants has filed an answer to the suit.