Wal-Mart Sues Gravely Injured Employee

Keep up the good fight!  Great job…

cant wait to see Nicks post on this one!

The article that appeared in this morning’s Post Dispatch is without doubt one of the most disturbing corporate stories, that I have read to date. Not only is this woman’s entire family suffering, now WM wants to make their pain even worse. There is NOTHING sold at WM that anyone needs. They need to be boycotted. I know that I will not be shoping there, and I will urge everyone I know to stop supporting such amoral behaviour.They are an American disgrace,just another example of Republican greed gone wild. C.Neal

I know a lot of people here don’t like my opinions, but guess what?  I think this is wrong for WM to do.  I’m not going to boycott WM, but I bet the company doesn’t pursue this case(they said they filed it to keep their options open,but I think it could be a big PR problem).  If they do, that would be wrong. 

Cynthia, this is not a Republican or Democrat issue so lets not start that.  you’ll get Nick, larry, sean, and david all riled…

Wal-Mart is in the process of disgracing itself as it has
never disgraced itself before.

The corporate belief of respect for the individual has
been thrown out the window.

I have not purchased anything from Wal-Mart in ten
months, and do not plan on returning.

“Wal-Mart is in the process of disgracing itself as it has
never disgraced itself before.”

Robert - Now matter how awful WM is, no matter how much negative PR has, people will still shop there.  No other store can get away with what WM gets away with. 

WM knows that people are dumb and can be walked on and this is why they will never change.

It would not suprise me at all if this man, his family and all his friends still shop WM becuase they THINK they are saving money.

This site is entertaining at most, but it will never change WM. 

Republicans will make money at all costs. They could care less about the people they destroy or kill doing it.

How do Republicans sleep at night is beyond me.  Q, Nick - maybe youn both can answer this.

Cynthia - “They are an American disgrace,just another example of Republican greed gone wild.”

The Iraq war is another example - Republicans are making money hand over first with the war - so what if it costs innocent people their lives, they make money!

People want HIGH GAS PRICES - so they let the Republicans stay in office.

The Republicans are only doing what people allow them to do.

Each day the Republicans are allowed to destroy the world to make money, tells me that’s what people want.

Local 6 Finds Cheapest Grocery Prices
Super Target Wins Local 6 Test; Publix Had Best Service

Here’s proof that WM has HIGH PRICES - but it works for them.  They relie on the illusion of low prices- people are dumb and fall for it. 

Copy and paste the link below for proof.

http://www.local6.com/money/4776802/detail.html

“Walmart is in the process of disgracing itself as it has never disgraced itself before,” as posted above by Robert in Carson.

I beg to differ -

Walmart is doing the same thing it has always done -

The only difference is - now they’re getting caught.

Hi Anonymous in

I was quoting Robert Robinson’s post in Surfside Beach, SC.

I agree with your post

“Walmart is doing the same thing it has always done”

Even though WM is getting caught, the negative PR it is no affecting them like it would affect other businesses.

Just like the most know that Bush lied about the reason to go to war.  Not affecting them in any way.  Impeachment would have been forced on a Democrat president if he would have been found lying.

go to michaelmoore.com for more information

Michael Moore tried to inform the American people about Bush.  People were too dumb to understand.

Wal Mart Watch is trying to inform the American people about WM.  Again, people are too dumb to understand.

As much as both sites try, nothing will ever change -

Bush will remain in office and destroy the world.

WM will continue to make gobs of money and destroy the world.

Republicans like Q and Nick defend Bush & WM regardless of their actions.

Robert,

I’m curious to understand your logic in calling those who do not agree with you, dumb.  If I were trying to persuade someone to see things my way, calling them dumb would not be the way I would go about it.  While I personally do not agree with Walmart’s policy on the above subject, it has nothing to do with democrats vs republicans.  Also, while I do not agree with the way this site (or rather the UFCW) is going about doing things, it has no hope of success without it being a bipartisan effort.  That being said, no matter what WMW does, it will not succeed as long as its supporters are so STUPID as to not realize they are going to need the republican’s help.  So who is actually the dumb one here? Some of us in this good ol’ U.S. of A. have the ability to look at the facts and decided for ourselves what we believe.  We do not need someone telling us what is “right” and if we do not agree, we must just be dumb.  This holds true with the unions not understanding why walmart associates do not want to unionize.  Their logic on it is that the associates are too dumb to understand that they need to be represented.  As not one WM store in the US is unionized, it stands to reason that they have looked at the facts and decided that they are better off without the unions.  It seems the unions are also into “making money at all cost” as this site is nothing more than a thin veil at an attempt to grab the dues from WM’s 1.2mil associates.  Now before you start in on me with your normal tirade, I know your going to say that I work for WM and that I’m republican.  Now if you think about it for a minute, if I work for walmart, then as this site claims, I’d be underpaid and therefore poor (probably too poor to own a computer with DSL access).  Being poor, I would not fit your discription of a republican as “republicans make money at all cost”.  So, make up your mind, either we work for walmart, or we are republican, but we cant be both.  (by your own terms.)

Ok, now here are the parts that WM Watch left out, but if you read the article you would find.

St. Louis lawyer Sheldon Weinhaus, who has handled similar suits, said it is not unusual for employer-sponsored health plans to try to recover money from lawsuits.

He said courts are becoming more critical of suits filed by health plans. “They recognize the unfairness of this, and they’re looking for reasons to stop Wal-Mart and others from doing this ... in my opinion,” he said.

PAY ATTENTION, HERE IS THE KICKER:

Jim Singer, who battled Weinhaus on a case involving a union-funded health plan, disagreed about a change of attitudes in the court system. “I don’t know that that’s true. I haven’t seen that.”

.. . . . .. “a union-funded health plan” I am looking more into this, but it leads me to believe that the union is doing the same thing.  Also note that others are doing it.  Would be funny if Target and Costco are doing the same thing.

I am not familiar with the merits of this particular case but I will say that it is not unusual for a company or an insurer to file suit to recover money. That doesn’t mean they are actually pressing for the money or expecting to recover any money. It is a legal way of keeping your options open. In other words, if Wal-Mart let this ride and didn’t file the suit, and later on it turned out that they were entitled to the recovery, they would legally have no ground to stand on, due to the statue of limitations and/or their particular state’s insurance and legal requirements.

No, I am not a Republican. I am a conservative Libertarian. And for those of you who say that “Republicans are greedy and make money at all costs” what about Hollywood? Hollywood is controlled by left-wing nuts like Speilberg, Geffen, Katzenberg and so on. Many of these people are billionaires. Many more are multi-millionaires. Hollywood and the rap music industry are feeding America’s kids a steady diet of soft-core porn. disrespect, violence and stupidity. Aren’t these people making money, regardless of cost?

You be the judge.

Amen Nick! This site needs more intelligent debate and less partisan rhetoric - only Truth will help the cause for justice.

There are NO stupid people, but far too many are ignorant.

I appreciate Nick and Harold’s comments.  I suspected that this was fairly common practice, but had no actual knowledge.  I believe in the old saying “It is better to keep silent and have people think you are stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Nick!!

Had you been the severly injured person in this article, how would your family be feeling? Would you still be singing the WM praise?

For a company that profits BILLIONS anually, whose family have 5 members in the Top 10 Richest Americans besides Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, do you not think that the company could show more compassion to “one of their own” who has suffered greatly?  This is a blatant example of monetary greed.

There is a saying in business..."Take good care of your people, and they will take care of your customers.” I am afraid that WM has forsaken that sound business advice.

KathyC

What Wal-Mart is doing is SOP in insurance/medical liability cases. Wal-Mart’s insurance paid this woman’s costs. If no recovery had been made from the guilty party, Wal-Mart would have had to eat the millions it spent on this woman. But the guilty party had insurance so what happens in these cases is the insurer (in this case Wal-Mart) pays the bills then sues to recover its costs. By that, I mean that this woman was not obligated to millions of dollars from both Wal-Mart and the guilty party. Once the guilty party and their insurance company paid up, Wal-Mart has the right to seek reimbursement because their insured was not at fault and, thus, they (Wal-Mart) should not have any liability. What is happening here is standard for ANY insurance company.

Kathy-Let’s assume you are covered by State Farm. Now, you are in an accident with a tractor-trailer, which is covered by Allstate. State Farm will immediately take care of you and pay your expenses because they insure you. When it is determined that the tractor-trailer is at fault and you recover a $2 million settlement from Allstate, State Farm will formally file a suit in order to lay claim to some of that money. This is because State Farm put out a lot of money, even though you were not at fault, and so they have a legal right to recover money they paid upfront.

Do you follow now? Wal-Mart’s insurer incurred expenses on behalf of their client. Now that someone else is legally responsible for damages, the insurer has a right to get its’ money back. This happens every day, with every insurer. Don’t blame Wal-Mart for this.

You know it amazes me that so many of you are so concerned with finding any thing to link to Republicans that you don’t bother to see that A. this is Wal Mart. Not a political party.

So is it so important that your political views be shoved down every one else’s throat that you over shadow this poor woman, and her families pain?

Other than that this is a good site. Wal Mart has done allot of questionable stuff. So I am in now way taking up for them. And I’m pretty sure Nick wasn’t either. And part of me hopes that Nick is rite. At least then this poor woman will either be taken care off by her insurance by Wal Mart or by the guilty parties insurance.

If you just calm down enough to listen to what people are trying to tell you and not concentrate so much on labels. You might learn something.

I often surf the web searching for the most ideologically perverse, extremist websites because I find them quite entertaining. I found this site through adbusters.org (very amusing site), but was surprised to find some legitimate opinions (as opposed to generic, hate speech).

I think this site owes some thanks to Nick and Harold for bringing up logical and TOPICAL analysis and for not allowing this discussion to be the victim of group polarization.

Robert… what does Bush have to do with this discussion? And Kathy, simply because the Walton family is rich certainly does not make them evil. Isn’t that profiling?

The Missouri-based politiblog Fired Up! has posted an open letter to Wal-Mart’s John Scott. Anyone wishing to urge Wal-Mart to drop the lawsuit against Debbie Shank is invited to fill out the letter and submit it.

I’m not sure how or if HTML will work here, but here’s the URL to the letter:

http://www.firedupamerica.com/walmart

That’s “Lee” Scott. Sorry.

Nick,
The money that was received from this woman’s lawsuit was for more than the medical bills already incurred - it was also for future care, pain and suffering, and all the standard stuff.  She did not receive millions from either side, she received less than 500k after the attorneys got their share.

Walmart is suing for their entire share, which effectively wipes out the entire settlement.  Who will pay for her future care - Medicare.  Thats you and me !  The article further states that her husband may have to divorce her for her to be eligible for Medicare.

Now - legally - Walmart is entitled to something - morally they are entitled to nothing.  Even legally though, that should be a small piece of the settlement that represents the same pennies on the dollar she received for her future care - they cannot claim her entire settlement was only for the medical bills.

After reading all the rhetoric on this site about political views etc. I am sharing the views of a GA. State representative- enjoy

The following has been attributed to State Representative Mitchell Aye from GA. 
> “We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help
>everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots,
>keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the
>blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our
>great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and
>establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt
>ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths
>to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill
>of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights.”
>
> ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV,
>or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally
>acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
>
> ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This
>country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone—not
>just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different
>opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will
>be.
>
> ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you
>stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect
>the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently
>wealthy.
>
> ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing.
>Americans are the most charitable people to be found and will gladly
>help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing
>generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve
>nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional
>couch potatoes.
>
> ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That
>would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we’re just not
>interested in public health care.
>
> ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other
>people.  If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone,
>don’t be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric
>chair.
>
> ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of
>others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other
>citizens, don’t be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you
>away in a place where you still won’t have the right to a big screen
>color TV or a life of leisure.
>
> ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure
>want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times,
>but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education
>and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.
>
> ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an
>American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness which, by the
>way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of
>idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of
>Rights.
>
> ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don’t care where
>you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever
>you came from!
>
> (lastly....)
>
> ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country’s
>history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true
>God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any
>faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN
>GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history and if you are
>uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!!

Combat Vet.

My sentiments exactly.

My sympathies to the family. However, not a big fan of walmart or insurance comopanies, but if the woman received a settlement from driver’s company AND
walmart, even in such extreme circumstances, isn’t that being paid twice?

Combat Vet

I am amused by your posting of the “Bill Of No Rights”! I discovered this myself through my favorite radio talk show host, Jim Quinn. I have a copy of it posted in my office next to my desk, which probably doesn’t thrill my die-hard liberal boss. On a related note, I would like to post something else I found through Jim Quinn’s site (www.warroom.com)

40 YEARS AGO....

Good old days, Forty years ago when I was a first grade school child, guns were as common as dirt. Many, if not most, adult males had a rifle or a shotgun in the closet or in a rack in an unlocked truck. Many, of not most, had a 38 revolver in the nightstand drawer near their bed or in the glove box of the car. You could buy a revolver or even a 20mm anti-tank rifle through the mail from advertisers who placed ads in popular magazines.
There were no school yard massacres in those days.

In those days the possession of so much as a Tijuana stag film could get an adult a few days in the pokey. Booze could not be sold from after midnight Saturday until Monday morning. Stores closed up by 6 PM on every other evening, 9 PM on Fridays and Saturdays. No stores were open on Sunday.

The vagrancy laws were enforced as were the curfew laws for children. If you spoke a racial slur or derogatory remark about someone’s family you were likely to get a broken nose for your pains. And then get whipped when you got home and had to explain yourself.

Children were not allowed to talk back to their parents, nor were they allowed to run like a pack of wild animals through the stores or up and down the streets. Parents were the authorities you has to answer to.

Punishment was a bar of soap in the mouth for lesser crimes and a belt across the buttocks for more serious offenses. All adults in the community were to be obeyed and respected. All adults in the community held themselves to be responsible for all the children.

Credit was something precious and hard to get, a badge of higher standing in the community. Bankruptcy was shameful. As was illegitimate birth. A young man who got a girl pregnant and didn’t do right by her would never get a responsible job in his town and would have to spend years proving himself again as trustworthy.

Thrift and virtue, virginity and self-restraint, self-reliance and moral character were hallmarks of respect and public esteem. Ministers, school authorities, parents, all firmly believed that they had a moral responsibility to live and conduct themselves, and hold others to high standards of moral conduct and good character. They believed that setting an example for others was a civic obligation. The badge of authority of adulthood.

There were no school yard massacres in those days.

America, since that time you have universalized every form of pornography and filth. You now have normalized every kind and type of perversion and deviancy. You have taught and rewarded Moral Relativism for kindergarten through university for the last four decades.

America, you have made the murder of babies in the womb a routine substitute for moral character and an acceptable form of birth control, and in so doing proclaimed to all your children that their lives are worthless to you. You have allowed them to become the wards of the state by abandoning them to the public schools and turning your teachers into daycare workers and baby-sitters. You have encouraged and rewarded your children for remaining in a state of immaturity long into their adult years by remaining in that state of self-absorbed immaturity yourself.

You have closed your eyes to blatant criminal activity and acts of war by your elected representatives so long as your wealth and positions are not harmed. You have labored mightily for forty years and defended your choices against any and all who tried to stop the evil.

You have made yourselves into indentured servants to unlimited desires and enslaved yourselves to mindless passions. You have elevated the most corrupt to the highest positions and persecuted those who would try to undo the horrors.

Now in your advancing years the fruits of your labors have come home to you. Now the seeds of destruction you sowed, and nurtured, and defended have flourished and are reaching their appointed harvest. Why are you now surprised?

You have reached the ultimate fulfillment of all your desires and dreams. Your aspirations have reached maturity. These are your children, America. They are everything you raised them to be. They are the epitome of everything you slaved for all these years.

continued on the next post.............

The children who have been performing these hideous acts of evil, these school yard massacres are not nice, normal, “good kids” who suddenly became deranged, slavering psychotics after touching a gun. Each and every one of them signaled their intent through their behavior months, years in advance.

Each of them was known to parents, teachers, police, other children as being twisted, perverse, dangerous, and blatantly so. Each had a long history of flagrantly violent and dangerous behavior that was know to everyone they ever came into contact with, Where were the adults all those years?

This is your reward for your lifetime’s success at sabotaging, betraying, denying, and overturning a thousand years of law, morality, religion, and culture. Embrace your legacy, your monstrous offspring. They are the mirror image of you, their parents and the society you have reshaped.

For a generation you have fought long and hard to achieve this day, you have succeeded. Now those other days are gone. Then, children respected their elders. Parents respected themselves, each other, and their leaders. America was respected by her friends, and by her enemies.

There were no school yard massacres in those days.

I welcome comments.

nick i do have a comment for you. what does that whole page have to do with a brain-damaged woman being sued by wal-mart?

This is appalling.

Here’s my comment to walmart.com today

***********************************************************

Last night I was at the Mcfadden Walmart Santa Ana store. 

I took a hard look at your store, the stock, the employees and breakrooms.  I’ve never seen such a poorly managed store before. 

You have pissed off employees angrily stuffing the carts with misplaced items.  And some of female employees were crying and huddled up in the middle of tables by the registers.  And you have an employee who appeared to be very ill and working non stop on the shelves.

Unsafe looking pallets stacked up high and kids are playing cat and mouse amid them.

And the walmart even has transients in it changing their clothes out in the display areas.  Condom wrapper found in the men’s room floor.  And a white bearded dude who’s made it to the megans law website seems to have made himself at home in there too.

And I see a lot of employees pilfering candies and sodas lotta wrappers and cans there in the breakroom. Other supermarket break rooms have receipts in their trash cans and couldnt find that in there either. 

The exit woman took a loooooong time to read things on the receipts to check the bags out.  There was a long line leading up to her. 

And you have pandhandlers at the parking lot.

The employees seem to be loyal to themselves than the company.  My time was really worth the entertainment value seeing the weirdness youve allowed to exist in that store.

Thanks for the interesting experience I will be sharing that around.

Richard Roehm

Things are going to change.

:).

And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Here’s the real post:

Things are going to change - and that’s all I have to say about that.

Richard

What does your experience really tell me? It tells me that the managers at that particular store a very poor managers. If you can’t keep your store clean, your merchandise secure and your employees motivated, you should move on. This is obviously something that needs to be addressed by the home office. They need to move these people out ASAP. That said, go to any K-Mart and you will see the same thing. Go to unionized Kroger and you will get high prices and pissed off employees. Kroger employees should be happy and motivated since they have a union, right? But they are the most miserable lot I have every seen. And these are employees in a Kroger model store, a large, very clean, very nice grocery store. Imagine what they must be like in the dirt stores across the river in Ohio?

As for employees being more loyal to themselves than to the company-I don’t see a problem with that. As long as they come to work every day and do their best, I don’t really care. You can’t expect someone earning say, $8 an hour to remain for $8 an hour if $15 an hour and better benefits comes along. You have to take care of yourself. But you also need to be loyal to your employer. It’s more difficult to explain than it is to do it in practice. Sorry if I made this less clear.

I agree with Nick on this one; recuperation and remuneration from the insured after the fact to the insurance company is common (lot’s of companies do this).

I agree.

Let’s impoverish this woman further until she just fades away and dies - and the definition of insurance (to insure) is rewritten.

Let’s write it this way insurance in 2005 means a temporary loan.

At least the insurance company should give this woman a wheelchair as a tax write-off - don’t ya think.

As Debbie Shank’s son, I appreciate everyone’s passion for this topic. However, from reading your responses, I can tell you that polarizing this debate into a Democrat/Republican issue will only allow Wal-Mart more time to screw up people’s lives. I’ve lost so much in the past 5 years because of the aftermath of my mother’s wreck. Please don’t let me lose my faith in humanity as well.