Posted on 09/08/2011 7:10:36 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
In response to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Aileen Harbidge's family against Ashley Furniture HomeStore and its parent company, its CEO, Gary Seals, said the shooting death of their employee was a “heartbreaking situation” but denied the store was at fault.
Seals called the lawsuit a “disappointing event,” according to a copy of the statement forwarded by a company spokeswoman.
Harbidge “was a valued member of our team at the Fiesta Store in San Antonio and her death was a shock to us all,” he wrote. “Aileen always had a smile and a kind word for everyone. We miss her very much.”
Harbidge was shot and killed the morning of May 12 at the store on Interstate 10 West at De Zavala. An arrest warrant affidavit states her ex-boyfriend, a co-worker, confessed to shooting her before fleeing the city in a stolen truck. He was arrested in Midland.
Jose Martinez, 38, remains jailed on a murder charge. The lawsuit claims the company's management knew about his violent past, including an aggravated assault charge that led to a protective order filed by another woman in 2007.
The suit also claimed that a manager at the store had been told of verbal threats, including death threats, that Martinez made against Harbidge — and was aware of a physical assault against her — yet still loaned Martinez a gun after he told the manager he wanted to try one out before making a purchase.
Seals called “completely false” both the allegation that the manager loaned Martinez the gun and that the company knew Harbidge had been physically assaulted by him.
Martinez did get a gun from a coworker but it was not the manager named in the lawsuit, according to the police report and arrest warrant affidavit. In his statement, Seals said the company had “reached out extensively to her family, offering our support and help in many ways.”
“Her loss has touched us all,” Seals wrote at the end of the statement. “And we will remember her for her dedication, energy and talent that were taken away much too soon.”
The family of Aileen Harbidge — shot and killed in May at the furniture store where she worked — has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ashley Furniture Home Store and its parent company alleging management was aware that Harbidge had been threatened and assaulted by another employee charged in her death.
Jose Martinez, 38, is in jail on a murder charge and allegedly confessed to an ex-wife that he was angry with Harbidge, 27, and shot her at the Ashley Furniture at Interstate 10 and De Zavala Road, according to his arrest warrant affidavit.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Harbidge's husband, also lists her two children and her parents as plaintiffs. The lawsuit claims the company knew Martinez had a violent past prior to his threats and assaults against Harbidge, including an arrest for punching and choking a woman who filed a protective order against him in 2007, according to criminal and civil court documents.
“Yet, it did not care,” the suit said of the company, where a manager lent Martinez a gun the day before the killing that police have identified as the weapon used to kill Harbidge.
Martinez had to be moved around to various stores because of his “negative, undesirable, incorrigible actions” during his employment and management knew of the ongoing conflict between Harbidge and Martinez, the suit said.
Harbidge had even quit working for the company about a month before the shooting because of her fear of Martinez but was “lured back to work” and told she would be safe, the suit claims.
The violence continued just days before her death, the lawsuit said. On May 10, Harbidge told a manager that Martinez physically assaulted her on the job and had made verbal death threats, the suit said.
The next day the manager lent a gun to Martinez, who said he wanted to test it out before purchasing one of his own, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
On May 12, Martinez allegedly used the gun to shoot Harbidge in the back three times before fleeing San Antonio in a stolen pickup, the affidavit states. He was arrested at a relative's house in Midland, according to records.
Attempts to reach representatives of Ashley Furniture for comment were unsuccessful.
Shoot the lawhole responsible for filing this lawsuit
Only one deep pocket in the picture, thus sue the store.
What I haven’t been able to see is if this woman ever filed a police report against Martinez?
Even if she had, she would likely be just as dead. I guess she loved him.
Deep pockets law suit.
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