Posted on 12/03/2008 9:31:55 PM PST by FoxInSocks
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (Dec. 3) - The family of a worker trampled to death in a "Black Friday" crush of bargain hunters at a Long Island Wal-Mart store filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming store ads offering deep discounts "created an atmosphere of competition and anxiety" that led to "crowd craze."
The lawsuit claims that besides failing to provide adequate security for a pre-dawn crowd estimated at 2,000, Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent."
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In addition to the retailer, the adjacent Green Acres Mall, a realty company that manages the property and a security company hired to patrol the property were all named as defendants.
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Police are reviewing store video to identify possible suspects in Damour's death, but Mulvey conceded that criminal charges are unlikely.
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Hecht said Damour's family also plans to file lawsuits against Nassau County and its police department.
<snip>
The lawsuit against Wal-Mart and the other companies was filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in the Bronx, the home of one of the victim's sisters, Elsie Damour Phillipe, the court-appointed administrator of his estate. It does not seek specific damages.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
Wal-Mart likely has legal liability, but I still insist that the fault lies with all the animals who rushed through the doorway.
It's pathetic that all the talk immediately after the incident was focused on liability and the possibility for a lawsuit. What a country. I think no one is at all surprised.
Why?
No one saw this coming.
We saw this coming a mile away.
* sheesh * What took them so long? :eyeroll:
The Family should be suing the animals that trampled the guy to death... place blame where it belongs. oh wait... those animals don’t have deep pockets.
Wal Mart should not be sued. The dirtbags that broke through the doors should be brought to justice. I am sure they are on camera. But those dirtbags don’t have the deep pockets that Wal Mart has, nor would it be politically correct to bring the real perps to justice for fear of riots.
RE :’Wal-Mart likely has legal liability, but I still insist that the fault lies with all the animals who rushed through the doorway.’
I normally stick up for WM and against lawsuits but I can see where WM created the situation, even though that is hindsight and it hasnt happened before this. I think that means WM will settle.
My prediction is Wal-Mart will settle for an “undisclosed amount”, and it will be seven figures.
WalMart should pay for this one, who else is there to blame? You put blame on the guy in front for bumping him over? what about the other 100 people pushing behind him? Lines should have been set up, and precautions should have been taken by walmart.
I pass a billboard every day that advertises “who do I sue”. com.
In my mind, the fault lies with the humans turned animals that caused this. But do you prosecute the animals at the back of the herd..or the ones at the front?
the fact that mankind has come to this point is scary..very scary.
Speaking from a legal standpoint, mainly because it happened inside their doors.
I wouldn't necessarily agree, from a moral point of view, but I won't be surprised if that's the jury's determination and they decide to teach Wal-Mart a lesson. Fat chance of getting that far, though -- a jury would probably award $10 gazillion.
In this case, I’d say that Walmart does share the blame. They fostered the whole crazed shopper atmosphere including using the terminology ‘blitz’ on their line-up sign outside the store. They made it worse by using the poor man as impromptu security; actually worse than that, as part of a human chain in an attempt to hold an unruly crowd back. The fact that they had them form a human chain means that they knew they were about to have problems.
They put their store above the health and safety of their employees.
Once again, we wouldn’t want to hold the animals ACTUALLY responsible for killing the guy responsible. Instead, go after the nearest peripheral party that has money, and give the animals a pass. Not only does this not hold those directly responsible accountable for murder, it encourages this sort of primal behavior in the future, since it leads to rich payoffs & no consequences.
I guess we need to post riot police at every Walmart on black Friday.
“No one saw this coming” Bump.
Perhaps in order to offset the costs of the frivolous nature of this disgusting excuse for legal activity, we could all shop at Wal-Mart tomorrow?
(Or would this simply continue this kind of legal stupidity?)
We sue people because shooting idiots that do stupid and reckless things is illegal...
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