SOUTH ALPINE, IL WAL-MART IN LIMBO
Lawsuit, economic downturn leave South Alpine Wal-Mart up in the air [BusinessRockford.com (Ill.)]
Construction of the city’s fourth Wal-Mart Supercenter on South Alpine Road has been delayed for more than a year because of litigation — and its future remains in doubt.
Rockford aldermen approved Wal-Mart’s venture into the South Alpine area in April 2006, and construction was set to start later that fall. The proposal was first announced in 2005.
But before any earth had been moved, ADY of Illinois Inc. sued Wal-Mart, the city of Rockford and the developer on April 27, 2007, according to court records.
The lawsuit was dismissed late last month, said John Elias, attorney for Peoria-based developer Waldschmidt Development Corp.
“We didn’t think the case had merit when it was filed, and we still don’t think it has any merit,” Elias said.
ADY of Illinois Inc. and the organization’s attorney, Wheaton-based Mark Daniel, could not be reached for comment. The two sides will be back in court July 16 because an appeal of the ruling may be filed.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, July 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Rockford, IL. Wal-Mart’s 4th Superstore In Legal Limbo
How many Wal-Mart does one community need? That’s a question that city officials in Rockford, Illinois---a community of roughly 155,000 people--- have never asked themselves. The city already has three Wal-Mart supercenters. There’s a Wal-Mart on West Riverside Boulevard, one on Northridge Drive, and one on Walton Street. But building number 4 supercenter on South Alpine Road has become a major problem for Wal-Mart.
Instead of a grand opening, Wal-Mart’s application led to a courtroom.
Rockford calls itself “the Forest City, where you can find affordable homes on tree-lined streets in friendly neighborhoods.” The city boasts that it’s the home of Jane the dinosaur, and the rock group Cheap Trick. They don’t mention the home of Cheap Imports---but if a 4th Wal-Mart superstore goes up, the city could boast of its Retail Dinosaurs one day.
Litigation has stalled that 4th superstore, which was first unveiled in 2005. The Aldermen in Rockford blessed the project back in April of 2006, according to the Rockford Register Star. But no construction ever took place, because a company called ADY of Illinois, Inc. sued the city, Wal-Mart, and the developer. The Peoria, Illinois-based developer, Waldschmidt Development Corp, says ADY’s lawsuit has been rejected—but an appeal may be filed in the case, further dragging on the timeline. “We didn’t think the case had merit when it was filed, and we still don’t think it has any merit,” a spokesman for the developer told The Star.
ADY will be in court on July 16th, possibly to file its appeal. The long legal delay, combined with Wal-Mart’s change in growth plans, have cast a shadow over the 4th supercenter store in Rockford. According to The Star, Wal-Mart is the biggest taxpayer in Rockford, and the third-largest employer with about 2,750 employees. The Alpine Road site is near Jefferson High School, and has drawn fire for possible dangers it poses to students crossing the road, and skipping school to go shopping. One resident told the newspaper, “There are plenty of other businesses that the city could bring in, not just the same stuff we’ve always had. How many Wal-Marts do we need? People can drive the eight miles to shop at the one on State Street… Every time I drive by, I always look for some sort of construction or movement. I just don’t want it here. I don’t see it as this is the place to be.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, July 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Has Its Lawyers Working Overtime
Well, at least someone is getting paid.
Another day, another wage/hour class action is awarded judgment against Wal-Mart. This time it comes to us from Minnesota, where Dakota County District Court Judge Robert King Jr. ruled Monday that Wal-Mart broke Minnesota labor law more than two thousand million times over a six-year period by forcing employees to work without breaks and without full pay.
That is, in fact, not a typo. Two million times.
Judge King ruled that, in addition to penalties, Wal-Mart owes workers at least $6 million in back wages. In addition to penalties, you say? Ahhhhh, penalties...this is where it could get expensive for Wal-Mart, a company which, as the Northwest Arkansas Morning News reported last week, is already facing a whole plethora of legal woes. The violations at issue here carry a penalty of up to $1,000 each, which could be pretty pricey when you have two million of the darn things. According to Bloomberg’s math, which I am hardly in a position to disagree with, that puts the ceiling up around $2 billion. It probably won’t get that high, but it will be high, nonetheless...all I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if the next time you’re in Wal-Mart, a brand new copy of Guitar Hero costs...ummmmm...a million dollars?
A jury is expected to decide the amount of punitive damages and penalties in October, according to the judge’s order. And that could drive the amount Wal- Mart pays to hundreds of millions of dollars, said lawyer Frank Azar, whose Colorado firm was involved in the case and began fighting Wal-Mart in the 1990s.
Wal-Mart Faces $2 Billion Labor Law Trial, Judge Says [Bloomberg]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. broke Minnesota labor laws, a state judge ruled, handing the world’s largest retailer its third-straight defeat in a wage-class action trial and the possibility a jury may order it to pay $2 billion.
The company required hourly employees to work off-the-clock during training and denied full rest or meal breaks in violation of state wage and hour laws, Hastings, Minnesota, District Judge Robert King Jr. held today following a non-jury trial. King ruled Wal-Mart broke labor laws more than 2 million times and ordered the company to give employees $6.5 million in back-pay.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Tuesday, July 01 | 48 comments | Permalink
BATTLE RAGES ON IN TINLEY PARK, IL
Wal-Mart - the retailer you love to hate [South Town Star (Ill.)]
“Save money. Live better.”
That’s the slogan for Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, which grossed $374.5 billion in sales last year.
But all Alberta Overocker sees from her Tinley Park back yard is a massive box of concrete proposed to replace the sprawling green and goldish sod farm just outside her gate.
“I understand progress has to be made,” Overocker, 73, said as she looked toward 83 acres slated for the retail giant. “I just don’t think a Wal-Mart is the answer.”
From Overocker’s back yard, vehicles buzzing up and down 191st Street and Harlem look like Matchbox cars. A Target and several restaurants in the Brookside Marketplace shopping center across 191st Street are small but visible. Progress is happening. Now Wal-Mart wants to bring it even closer to Overocker’s door.
Chicago-based Aetna Development wants to transform the southwest corner of busy 191st Street and Harlem Avenue into a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter and more than a dozen other stores and restaurants, to be called Prairie View Crossings. Tinley Park has yet to approve the controversial project that has prompted a group of residents in the Brookside Glen subdivision to hire an attorney. But meetings continue as Aetna and Wal-Mart representatives revise their 370,000-square-foot plans to make residents and Tinley Park officials happy.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, June 30 | 0 comments | Permalink
TWO MONTH ROAD CLOSURE FOR WAL-MART PREPARTION IN PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI
State Road to close for two months near Wal-Mart project [Ann Arbor News (Mich.)]
State Road in Pittsfield Township will be closed to through traffic between Old State Road and US-12 in September and October for road improvements, said Roy Townsend, director of engineering at the Washtenaw County Road Commission.
The work is associated with the new Wal-Mart store near the corner of State Road and US-12.
State Road may be used to access businesses in the work zone, as well as Harvest Elementary School and Saline High School on Campus Parkway, during the construction, Townsend said. The Road Commission will encourage people to access Campus Parkway from Industrial Drive, he said.
Access to local subdivisions also will be maintained, Townsend said.
Posted by Joel Nezianya on Thursday, June 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
WAL-MART’S RELENTLESS LEGAL ASSAULT ON ZIONSVILLE, IN
Wal-Mart fires next barrage with suit against Zionsville [Indianapolis Star]
Zionsville residents are bracing themselves for another protracted court battle between the town and retail giant Wal-Mart, and some aren’t optimistic about the outcome.
The store filed suit against Zionsville June 18, nearly a month after the town turned down its plan to build a 185,000-square-foot superstore on U.S. 421. It’s a battle that’s been waging since 2006.
Local residents Martin and Anna Baker dread the thought of Wal-Mart coming to town, but Kathleen Rivers looks forward to seeing the familiar blue and grey box store on the town’s outskirts. All three believe a Zionsville Wal-Mart is inevitable.
“The whole thing is a big waste of town money,” Rivers said. “Wal-Mart is such a big company, they can win out easy against a small town. We could put the money to better use than trying to fight off some big corporation.”
The Bakers echoed Rivers’ sentiments, but hoped the Arkansas-based retailer would heed the town’s wishes and go elsewhere.
“If Wal-Mart thinks this would be a good area for them, there are better places for them than (U.S.) 421,” Martin Baker said. “Maybe they could look around the Anson area where the population would be more welcoming.”
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Thursday, June 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
WAL-MART MEETING DELAYED IN IOWA CITY, IA
Wal-Mart meeting deferred to July 3 [Iowa City (Iowa)]
The Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission will not take up plans to construct a Wal-Mart Supercenter until their meeting July 3.
Originally, the Wal-Mart proposal was slated for discussion at a special meeting Thursday.
According to a statement from the city, Wal-Mart requested the meeting’s deferral.
Wal-Mart plans to build a supercenter at the site of their current store on Highway 1.
Posted by Joel Nezianya on Wednesday, June 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s Legal Troubles Grab The Spotlight
The Northwest Arkansas Morning News released over the weekend a Kim Morrison piece on some of the largest legal cases currently pending against Wal-Mart, and most of the findings really shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. There is, of course, the Dukes gender discrimination suit, and the multitude of wage and hour cases pending - the full extent of which you can also see here, on Wal-Mart’s SEC filing. The two largest wage/hour cases to date - Savaglio and Braun/Hummel - have resulted in combined judgments of over $350 million against Wal-Mart, although the cases are currently in the appeals stages, so Wal-Mart has yet to pay a cent.
What you might find really interesting in the story is the way a company the size of Wal-Mart plans ahead for the day it will have to make a possible million billion-dollar payout:
“It’s not like they wouldn’t be able to pay the light bill if they had a billion dollar settlement,” said Patricia Edwards, fund manager with San Francisco-based Wentworth, Hauser and Violic. “It wouldn’t be good, don’t get me wrong. But the low point in cash last year at quarter end was just short of $5 billion.”
Edwards said Wal-Mart reserves cash for potential future lawsuit payouts so there would be a reduced impact on shareholders in the event of such a case. With Wal-Mart’s ability to absorb some of the impact, a billion dollar payout may show up in earnings as a loss of 5 cents per share, Edwards said.
Well that is certainly good to know, that Wal-Mart - instead of making sure its female employees are treated equally, and ALL of its employees are provided adequate breaks and paid for the overtime they work - has socked plenty of money away underneath its $150 bargain mattresses to pay for its legal shortcomings.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, June 23 | 2 comments | Permalink
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