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March 29, 2008
Wal-Mart Needs Cash
They don't really. In actuality, Wal-Mart has made a $107 billion this year alone. So why are they suing a brain damaged woman for $470,000 -- an amount that will send the woman into bankruptcy? Wal-Mart is trying to leech from a lawsuit award paid to Debbie Shank because of a fine-print line in her employment contract.
In other words, former Wal-Mart employee Debbie Shank was seriously injured in an accident. Her Wal-Mart insurance covered her hospital expenses -- as it should. The Shanks sued the trucking company involved in the accident. The Shanks won. And now, Wal-Mart is insisting that almost half of that amount should be paid to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has made $107 billion this year.
Posted By Bob Cesca | March 29, 2008 08:35 AM | DIGG ME!
Comments
Thanks, Bob, for posting this. Now, let's get the word out to the entire blogosphere that Walmart is a company run by heartless bastards that need to be called to account. I don't know how much traction we can get, but let's agitate for boycotts of Walmart's stores. Let's face it, do we really need cheap, dangerous products from China?
After all of Walmart's ads about how compassionate an employer they are, this is an illustration of their true nature.
BTW, Walmart has won the suit, taken the money, and the Shanks are left with nothing to pay for Debbie's ongoing expenses. To top it off, the accident stripped her of short term memory. Everyday, she asks about her son. Everyday, they have to tell her again that he died in Iraq two weeks ago. So Debbie loses her son in Bush's war. every. single.day.
Posted by: bajasteve ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 29, 2008 09:56 AM
Great post. In a way, I'm both shocked and not surprised. There are a hundred different ways they could have offset that 500K that would have bothered no one. It seems taking money from this poor woman was the easiest way.
I think it would be very hard to organize a boycott of the stores (I already don't shop there), but if there is anything they hate, it's bad publicity. If we keep this story out there, they'll have to respond.
Posted by: Nanotyrannus at March 29, 2008 10:46 AM
Make it viral. post it everywhere you can. Agitate people. Stir things up.
Posted by: bajasteve at March 29, 2008 11:02 AM
Olbermann said he's going to talk about it every night until Wal-Mart steps up to the plate. Legally, Wal-Mart had a case due to the fine print in the insurance contract but geez! Just 'cause it's legal doesn't make it right and Wal-Mart's board needs to be seen to do what's right. They've gotten a lot of bad publicity out of their not covering a lot of employees for health insurance, instead relying on states to provide it while getting tax breaks from those same states, and the piss-poor treatment of the Shanks is not going to help any. My heart goes out to the Shanks - what a nightmare their lives have turned into due to the greed of both the government and the corporations.
Posted by: ceu at March 29, 2008 11:04 AM
Update 4/1/08 (hmm...I don't think it's an April Fool's joke...):
http://www.walmartstores.com/8165.aspx
Posted by: ceu at April 1, 2008 04:51 PM
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