Customer disputes Wal-Mart stampede ("victim" has 16 claims against Walmart/Walgreens etc)

News Journal online ^ | 06 December 2003 | HENRY FREDERICK

[KneelBeforeZod]

oops. cut it off


"Even if there's a history of claims that seem suspicious, that doesn't mean the next time, it's not legitimate," Butler said.

Neither VanLester nor her sister returned calls from their mother's Orange City home Friday for comment. But the mother, Barbara Rastellini, 68, dismissed allegations of fraud against her injured daughter, saying, "All of this is nothing but bull."

henry.frederick@news-jrnl.com

[friendly]

This is a professional career criminal, as is the rest of her sociopath family.

She would never have been as successful as she is without a group of very sophisticated fellow criminals: the trial lawyers would helped her fake the endless "injuries" for their 1/3 of the settlement loot.

[Quilla]

Too lazy to work, too nervous to steal, what do you do, sue.

Years ago, I worked with a fellow who confided that his wife and mother sued folks for a living. They would drive around until they saw an expensive car behind them. Slam on breaks and waa-laa a year's income.

[metalboy]

All I know, is if they find this woman has faked this, they should throw the freggin` book at her, just totally make her life a living hell. I`m sick of this crap. I had jury duty 2 months ago (NYC) and every EVERY single case I was assigned to was for a lawsuit, as well as the other people around me who I talked to. It`s just one big lawyer scam going on that`s really out of hand, and this BS gotta stop bigtime. "Ms. so and so sprained her hand on a train" "Mr. so and so was hurt at work" This guy had a fly in his soup, this one had tripped over his shoelaces, that one got wet in the rain, this one McDonalds made him fat, this one didn`t know that molecular acid could burn her, that one didn`t know if you put a loaded shotgun to your head and you pull the trigger that you could blow your brains out...

[KneelBeforeZod]

I wonder if they
would let the jury hear that she has all these other claims when it inevitably ends up on court.

[TomB]

"The hospital admitted this woman for two days," he said. "What does that tell you?"

She knows exactly what vague symptoms to give the doctor to be kept there.

If you do it enough, you can become very good at it.

[martin_fierro]

Patricia VanLester

[KneelBeforeZod]

and her attorney

(RIP, Phil Hartman 1948-1998)

[AmericaUnited]

Walmart has something like 500 camera's in every store. It's impossible to do anything, anywhere without a camera picking it up. So... this FAKED INCIDENT must be on camera. Case dismissed.

[battlegearboat]

I wouldn't be interested in paying $29.87 for a DVD.

Now a $29.87 DVD player is a different story.

Anyway, this sorry POS woman must lead a miserable life.

[sirchtruth]

She knows exactly what vague symptoms to give the doctor to be kept there.

To me that is the most intriguing part of this story...being in the hospital for TWO days indicates a problem.

Can you give me an example of "Vague Symptoms" to keep her in a ward for two days?

[kittymyrib]

These professional lawsuit thieves know how to work the system and cost us, the consumers, billions a year. If juries would stop handing out cash to these crooks, the lawyers would starve. And while we are at it, let's investigate all the breathless news accounts of this incident: that she was trampled when the doors opened, that some shoppers ran their carts over her, that her sister was vainly trying to pull her out from under the thundering herd. All this was BS. News media who reported this lie ought to be forced to print the real story on the front pages of their papers just as they ran the original story that made Americans look bad all over the world.

[LanPB01]

I've got a buddy that's a prosecutor in a small town in which Wal-Mart is the biggest employer. Recently, he had a case come up where two women claimed an ex-husband of one of them stalked and harrassed them all around the store, then beat the hell out of them in the parking lot.

It turned out, these women were unaware of all the security cameras in the lot. When the tapes were played in the judge's chamber, it showed the women literally chasing the guy all over the store and screaming at him in the lot while he just frantically tried to leave. They then tried to block his truck as he attempted to pull out. One of the women suddenly took a dive, acting like the truck hit her (it was probably at least ten feet away). The other woman, seeing what her friend did, attempted the same. The judge was not amused.

[muawiyah]

Looks like the lady here might well have been done wrong, but over in the hospital where there was no one to tend to her over the Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Odds are they put her on a gurney (where she's gonna' end up anyway if she keeps up these false claims), and just parked her in the hallway.

We can see a doctor hungover with turkey breath selecting her for surgery. (The imagery gets worse the more we think about this.)

Then, there's the sister?! Hmmmm? What was she doing this whole time. For all we know this lady may have a lump on her head for a very good reason.

I recommend the cops interrogate the sibling.

[muawiyah]

This was about "players", not "dvd"s. Last year they were $12.

[Kozak]

Can you give me an example of "Vague Symptoms" to keep her in a ward for two days?

Headache
Diplopia
Paresthesia
Paresis/paralysis
Dyspnea
Abdominal pain
Confusion
etc etc etc


As an ER physician I can tell you one of the hardest things to prove is when someone is NOT ILL. I am forced to admit patients all the time with what I strongly suspect are conversion reactions or frank malingering.

[BlessedBeGod]

"The hospital admitted this woman for two days," he said. "What does that tell you?"

That the hospital didn't want a lawsuit?

[TomB]

Can you give me an example of "Vague Symptoms" to keep her in a ward for two days?

"Gee doc, everytime I sit up I get dizzy and nauseous."

"My feet are tingling".

"The vision is blurry in my right eye."

Note, I'm not a professional patient, or an ER physician, so those are just guesses. But if you have some experience, you know the things that make doctors nervous. And feeding off the litigous nature of medicine nowadays, it isn't hard.

[pepsionice]

Its time to start putting these folks into jail for 30 days at a time. I bet there are at least 10,000 of these fakers in the US...and it is stupid for us to continue to let them into courtrooms throughout the US.