Wal-Mart fights back

[Kurt Ullman]

Ah yes. I have been at a few misdemeanor murders in the past.

[Kurt Ullman]

And how many WalMarts had been opened on Black Friday for how many years with nary an injury, let alone a fatality? How many since?

[Robert Green]

You must either have a judge or a lawyer in the family. The description is spot on. The only quibble I have is that yes, you will get a free attorney, but like anything free, you get what you pay for. Apparently, the Supreme Court considers even a sleeping legal aid attorney "adequate counsel"

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[notbob]

Even harder to find a lawyer who will take on a suit that has no assets!! ;)

nb

[cjt]

Well said. A lot of businesses push the envelope under the assumption (usually true) that people will just grin and bear it.

[cjt]

I think it's pretty hard to find a lawyer who will take on a suit that has no merit, particularly for a percentage, and most people won't put their own money into legal fees unless they think they have a real cause of action.

[Tekkie®]

Jim Yanik posted for all of us...

I think of another word...

[Larry]

Bet you'd feel differently if someone in your family was this person.

There's no excuse for their reckless, disregard for human life, no matter how many stores they open.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"cjt" wrote

The problem is, it is too easy to get a settlement from the company or their insurance carrier. Write a few letters and get 40% of the settlement is not hard to take. The lawyers judges, insurance adjusters are all part of the same club. Then you have the guy with a modest claim and a sore toe that wants $10,000 or disability for life.

Top that off with jurors that are typical working class that think every business is out to screw every consumer. They award the really big settlements.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Of course their isn't, but do you think it was a reckless, disregard for human life that caused this? The man was killed by a bunch of greedy customers that wanted to be sure they grabbed the bargains. While it is easy to look back and see ways to prevent this from happening, I'm sure the store manager did not look at the situation and say "he may get killed, but so what, we need the customers"

Just as the automobile was on the road for 60 or 70 years before someone thought it would be a good idea to use set belts, store openings have been happening for decades with no deaths so no one really though to take excessive measures to prevent one. I'd hardly call it reckless disregard.

[HeyBub]

Yeah, but chances are he wasn't related to me or you. So, ask yourself next time you're in line, "am I better off..."

Nonsense. Walmart's motto is "Save money, live better"! They WANT their customers to live better lives because, for no other reason, dead people don't buy stuff.

[Kurt Ullman]

My point being that until that happened no one foresaw the problem. If you had such precognition and did not pass it along, then perhaps they should sue YOU for negligence.

[keith]

Or look at every plaintiff as someone who's just won the Magabux.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

The rot set in when lawyers were allowed to

(a) advertise (time was when a lawyer who advertised was "struck off" by the bar association);

(b) take cases on a contingency basis instead of telling potential clients, "My fee will be $x, plus expenses, which could be as much as $y

-- and if you lose, you will have to pay the defendant's costs as well."

*and* when

unsuccessful plaintiffs were no longer held liable for a successful defendant's costs; see (b) above.

Perce

[Harry K]

Yep. 'contingency' is win/win for any lawyer. Lose and you are out some time, win and you win big. Even in this sparsely populated area the sleaze lawyers file cases that have no merit.

Example. Suicidal subject with PU on side of deserted road. Has weapon. Cops surround him. Negotiations go on most of night. Brother arrives trys to convince him to drop the weapon. Finally subject points weapons at cop, Cops fire two shots and drop the guy. Sleaze bag lawyer files 'wrongful death suit' the next day. Last I heard the case is still open several years later. Whitman Co, Washington state. Sorry, I don't recall the name anymore (used to be a dispatcher).

Harry K

[Larry]

Being it was a temporary worker, and WalMart did not have any training sessions for crowd control. It's pretty much self-explanatory.

Nonsense, crowd control has been around for a long time, their failure to use it, is their fault.

[Larry]

I wasn't there, I couldn't see how large the crowd was. Odd you believe I could look in a crystal ball from here. You statement is really foolish. I shouldn't even acknowledge your mind set, but didn't want to appear rude.

[Larry]

Good God, an actual troll. Granted I should've taken others advice that you're a troll. However, wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. They were right, I was wrong.

[Evan]

Nope... No judge, no lawyer... Just four years of criminal justice classes in college...

You are quibbling over those 10% of cases that actually go to trial then, as 90% of cases are either dropped/dismissed or plea bargained out...

You get your free lawyer appointed for you at your arraignment if you do not have your own counsel arranged at that point...

Right... In my area of the country some "mid level" lawyers with good reputations even have "menus" meaning a certain type of case will cost x-amount of money to take on plus billable hours...

How is pushing the government to defend its position on some sort of administrative law which was not written by anyone you elected to office, nor are the people who wrote such administrative law easily influenced by anyone which you could realistically approach like a US Representative or US Senator... Making the government defend its positions on administrative law makes its future application more transparent and understandable by those outside of the agency involved just like case law in the other courts makes civil or criminal laws easier for some people to understand how the laws apply in the legal situations at bar and what your responsibilities are in such a situation if you were to ever find yourself in it...

~~ Evan

[cjt]

Where do you suppose they get such ideas? Maybe from personal experience with businesses that screwed them?

It's not a perfect system, but there are many vocal advocates for swinging the pendulum way too far the other way, IMHO.