Posted on 12/02/2008 1:43:54 PM PST by BGHater
Two customers are suing Wal-Mart for negligence after being injured in a mad rush for post-Thanksgiving bargains that left one store employee dead, the men's attorney said Tuesday.
Temporary Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed to death as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a store on Long Island at 5 a.m. Friday.
Attorney Kenneth Mollins said Fritz Mesadieu and Jonathan Mesadieu were "literally carried from their position outside the store" and are now "suffering from pain in their neck and their back from being caught in that surge of people" that rushed into the Wal-Mart.
New York Newsday reported that the Mesadieus are father and son, ages 51 and 19.
The lawsuit alleges that the Mesadieus' injuries were a result of "carelessness, recklessness, negligence."
In a claim against the Nassau County police department, the men also contend that they "sustained monetary losses as a result of health care and legal expenses ... in the sum of $2 million."
"This is a tragic situation that could have and should have been avoided with the exercise of reasonable care. There are very simple measures that could have been put in place to avoid this, such as barriers along the line to spread people out, extra security and a better police presence," Mollins said.
He said his clients and others who were at the scene contend that the police "were there ... saw what was happening, and they left."
Calls seeking comment from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. were not immediately returned.
Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said, "it's our policy that we don't comment on open litigations" and would not respond directly to Mollins and his clients' claim that officers left the scene.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Profit bothers you, huh?
Anyone who shows up at one of these 5 am sales is a loon to start with.
I don’t like Wal Mart, but they can’t control STUPID.
It would be virtually impossible to prove (even by the relatively low standard of proof required in civil suits) that these people were actually responsible for trampling the employee, or even pushing other people to trample him. Merely being part of a crowd—some members of whom commit a crime or a tort—does not make you liable for that crime or tort.
Or allegedly have a baby with another woman while the wife is dying from cancer...
“Damn ambulance chasers............”
Yeah, like the 50+ “bus riders” in Philly a decade or so ago.
Supposedly injured riders climbed on a SEPTA bus after it had a minor accident. Problem is IIRC more injured riders claimed injury from the accident, than the number of riders who were on the bus in the first place.
Is what happened considered a crime?
That actually would have made it worse. The shop steward would have had the entire employee body, and any passing truck drivers, join in the suit.
That Walmart would have had to close because all the employees would have won a suit, and been granted life time disability coverage (with cost of living increases). So there would be no more workers for that Walmart.
Unions are the death of free enterprise.
It might be in theory, but it would be almost impossible to convict anyone because of the high standard of proof required and dearth of evidence tying any one individual to the actual trampling.
Oh absolutely! Walmart forced all those folks to have a “wilding” event. The forced them to knock down others there and then tramp them to death.
In short they forced them to kill another human being so the could get in line to save a few bucks on relatively low level electronic equipment that was on sale.
Sort of odd though. I mean why didn't Walmarts in the rest of the country now have shoppers being killed for the same sale merchandise.
Oh well you must be right. After all it is big bad Walmart’s fault anyway, they can afford to pay.
Thanks. Good call.
EVERY TIME I see this kind of story, my first mental thought and wish is to replace the word "Attorney" with "Paid Flack" or in fairness "Hope to be paid gunslinger"! All we have here is the words of someone who thinks that there is MONEY at the end of this effort. Their motives may be pure or pure greed but in any and every case you must remember that the attorney is not required to be anything other than an advocate for his client(s). I know of a few good honest lawyers who only took cases they had already checked and were comfortable with ... they no longer practice this profession!
“How are they going to do socialized medicine if the lawyers can not sue???”
Do you really think with our legal system socialized medicine will end law suits? Really.
Then explain how Pennsylvania’s no fault law and how that ended car accident law suits?
Trick question. The law is written by lawyers who write it to play a game ruled on by lawyers who are judges.
After WalMart makes them rich, father and son will have a miraculous recovery.
sw
What if they were able to determine the actual persons(s)by video?
Not sure. The prosecutor would certainly have grounds to press manslaughter charges, but it would probably be hard to convict since even those people could always make the argument that they were as much at the mercy of the crowd as anyone else and were being pushed forward from behind or something. Basically I think crowd-related deaths like this are rarely prosecuted.
Those who willingly join an organized mob (no matter what it’s purpose), and suffer from the course the mob takes, have only themselves to blame.
There’s lots of shoulda, coulda, woulda claims that anyone can make, but they need to start with themselves - should not have gone in the first place, could have left when conditions proved so mob-like before the doors opened and would have saved themselves - by their own efforts - from their pain and suffering.
I would think manslaughter charges; if anything and I agree.
What about civil suits? I am sorry to bother you; but it’s very kind of you to answer my questions.
That wal mart should have never even opened... when all the employees are trying to form a WALL of humans to slow a crowd before you even open the door, door should have never opened.
Doesn’t excuse the actions of the individual idiots but WTF.
It did look like a scene out of Raccoon City.
If they have the actual people trampling him on camera a civil suit might have a chance, but again it would be easy for those individuals to deflect blame to the people behind them and to Wal-Mart, which was largely responsible for creating the conditions in the first place.
IKEA has had similar problems as do many retailers who offer ‘incredible’ deals to attract large marketshare.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3618190.stm
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