Law suit in Wal-Mart stampede

[skunked_again]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/03/victims-family-files-suit-wal-mart-stampede-death/

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. The family of a New York man who was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving by a stampede of bargain hunting Wal-Mart shoppers has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The family also filed notice that Nassau County, on Long Island, and its police department will be sued.

hmmmmm....

hope a smart judge hears the case.

[Tokyo Tony]

The family will definitely win.

[bilgerat]

They'll settle out of court, attorneys will collect nice checks, the losers will appeal, blah blah blah. That poor guy is gone forever. What was accomplished ?

Same crap will happen again in the future. Only the names will change.

[IDbasser]

Not sure what the purpose of going after the police and the county is.  Someone just wants to take this tragedy to the bank.

[Sam]

In the state of New York, employers have to have Workers' Compensation insurance.

Work Comp benefits will be paid to the employee's family, in addtion to funeral expeses as per the New York Workers' Compensation laws.

The family can bring legal action for gross negligence on the part of Wal-Mart.

Based on the details I have heard about the situation, the family may have a strong case against Wal-Mart.  

I have no idea of how strong the case may be against the law enforcment agency, but you have to name them in the legal action as it is easier to have them dismissed than to add them to the claim at a later date.

As stated above, Wal-Mart does not want a trail or the negative publicity.

Since Wal-Mart is "self-insured" for their Commercial General Liability, Wal-Mart will pay their CGL deductible, $500,000 to $1,000,000, and the reinsurers will pay the balance.

Everyone will forget about the case until it is revisited next Thanksgiving. Then it will float away.

Merry Christmas.  

[cart7t]

The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.

Tension grew as the 5 a.m. opening neared. Someone taped up a crude poster: Blitz Line Starts Here.

By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless.

Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said.

Some workers who saw what was happening fought their way through the surge to get to Mr. Damour, but he had been fatally injured, the police said. Emergency workers tried to revive Mr. Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, at the scene, but he was pronounced dead an hour later at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss