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All worthy choices for the GOLD as Keith explains, but Wal-Mart’s behavior to Debora Shank is unconscionable.
Deborah Shank’s story would have been sad enough, considering the devastating injuries she suffered in a traffic accident seven years ago. Nevertheless, Wal-Mart found a way to add a brutal coda.
Wal-Mart started out as one of the good guys in this story, paying almost $470,000 of her initial medical bills. But three years after Shank’s husband sued and settled with the semi driver’s employer, the retail giant changed hats. It demanded every penny back, plus interest and legal fees — more, in fact, than the $417,477 the settlement had placed in a special-needs Medicaid trust fund for Shank’s future healthcare expenses.
No Trackbacks To “World’s Worst: BillO/James Dobson/Wal-Mart“
Bad choice by Keith O. as to Walmart being “Worst in the World”. Sure, we all feel
sorry for the family and they have our heart felt condolences and sympathy, but
if Keith and his crew would do a little investigating as to the law and what Walmart’s
rights were thereunder, he’d find that NO law was broken irrespective of how “unfair”
the decision may appear as rendered by a Court.
Hey, Everybody: Don’t forget that Keith will have a special edition of Countdown on NBC this coming Sunday night at 7 ET!!!
It is legal as hell but you would think the largest retail store in the United States (if not the world) could just eat this and not appear to be a bunch of horse’s asses.
Just a bit more info, this lady’s son was killed in Iraq. These people are pitiful by any definition. Walmart should cut them some humanitarian slack.
He didn’t say they were wrong legally ,only morally.
Doggiebobo @ 1:
nah, wal mart is on the permanent ‘world’s worst’ list.
you’re right, legally speaking. but morally, and PR-speaking this is an abhorrent move by wal mart.
KO’s list isn’t based on legality, but simply who sucks. and wal mart qualifies, a bajillion times over
Doggiebobo @ 1:
About as fair as a felony possession charge.
They went after the throat and held on tight. There’s the letter of the law, yes, but also the spirit of the law.
Thank you insurance agency to opening the door to making things worse for people that are already under hardship. Get the little guy when they can’t defend themselves.
Is C&L trying to make me puke today?
pissed off patricia @ 3:
Just a bit more info, this lady’s son was killed in Iraq.
Damn. Didn’t know that.
Sick.
Doggiebobo @ 1:
He didn’t accuse them of breaking a law did he ?.
A truly disgusting act by wal-mart. And they wonder why they have a bad name ?
pissed off patricia @ 3:
For real. They could have covered that cost by adding a penny to the price of Jell-O for a week. But no, they had to be dicks about it.
Too screwin’ bad wal-mart couldn’t be sued by all the mom and pop stores they have put out of business over the years.
pissed off patricia @ 3:
POP: I do not disagree, but….the law is on the side of the BIG corp’s. If Keith wanted
a worst person, I’ll give him one: The W/H and bush, for they have again(and again and again) disregarded the “law”; in this case in a U.S. District Court in D.C. whereby a
Federal Judge(John M. Facciola) has requested a full and complete explanation from the
W/H as to the “missing 5 million or more” pieces of E-mails(which just coincidentially I’m
sure) include communications leading up to the invasion of Iraq. So, what does the W/H
do when reponding to Judge Facciola’s request…in essence they tell him to “go f… yourselve”…or more clearing…”We are above the law”…
Welcome to Corporate America.
Doggiebobo,
The point isn’t the legality of the issue. Being a 90 billion dollar Satan worshiping, baby eating entity is. When your not going to miss that money , this should have been swept under the carpet by Walmart. But they made it an issue. Just another reason not to shop there.
Doggiebobo @ 1:
Legally, they might be worried about setting a precedent in future cases, but you’d think they could have had the family sign something to keep quiet, let them keep their money and avoid the millions in bad publicity that this will no doubt cause them.
pissed off patricia @ 3:
They can’t do no more cutting, cuz their ads already say they’z a slashin’ already low prices. AND, it’s a happy smiley face. No way a corporation could be THAT evil with a happy smiley face as it’s mascot. All right. Snark off. Pathetic bastards they is.
Doggiebobo @ 12:
You forgot that they are required by FEDERAL law to keep these e-mails!
Doggiebobo @ 1:
Guess laws need changed then. If they broke no laws by making sure this woman and her family have very little income to support themselves, then the laws need changed.
How much lucre is enough for these filthy corporate pigs?
It’s the morality and the principle of the thing — not the legality.
I haven’t set foot in a Wal-Mart in years.
Vote with your pocketbooks, people.
Because this lady’s memory is so messed up now, she forgets her son is dead and when she asks about her son and they have to tell her he was killed in the war, she cries just like she did the first time she was told about it. The family said this happens over and over. This poor lady is in a mental hell. Wal-mart doesn’t need to pile on right now.
Wow…just wow.
Good thing none of the folks running for President this year used to work for these bunch of douchebags, huh?
Oh wait…
My wife was in a car accident in October. Nothing major, but on the suggestion of the advice nurse, we took her to the emergency room. They did exactly what I said they’d do for her- gave her two 800mg aspirin and sent her on her way. The guy who rear ended her was at fault and they paid for the car damage and also made a payment for her distress and problems associated to the accident. Months after settling with the company, we get a letter from some law office saying they’re looking to contact my wife about her emergency room visit. She showed me the letter and it was totally vague and looked more like a request for a survey to be completed. After they kept sending these, I noticed the letterhead was from a law office and told her she better find out what this was all about. When she called, they told her that they were trying to collect money from the emergency room visit, saying something about a clause in the Kaiser contract that said they could collect for costs associated to treating injury or illness inflicted by a third party. I had never heard of anything like this and I had Kaiser my whole life. Some quick Google searches pulled up posts from other people who were dealing with the same thing with Kaiser. It’s not like we would have lied when we took her to the emergency room, but had we known this, we would not have settled without factoring in the actual cost of the emergency room visit. I think it’s totally ridiculous. What if instead of a car accident, I had accidentally stepped on my wife’s toe and broke it? Would they sue me for the damages? In terms of this case, the husband did know of this clause and they really should have factored it into the settlement. Though, I can’t say I would have done anything different. This guys wife is totally out of commission, and not taking the settlement offer could have left them in the lurch during a court battle and appeals process.
You know what. I want to start a card campaign (or something like that) for the family.
Terry740 @ 17:
No, I did not forget, the W/H forgets..
I’ve read somewhere that the Walton family (wife and remaining children of Sam Walton) earn approx. $850 million/year in dividends on their holdings of WalMart stock. Of course, those dividends are taxed at the now prevailing rate of 15% for qualified dividend income (thanks, George Bush!). So no, I really don’t see how the Walton family or the ridiculously profitable corporation should or could pay this stock clerk’s medical expenses. It would be un-American.
Doggiebobo @ 1:
eh… the Worst person in the world in his program isn’t about ‘law breaking’ you can see the news for that. It’s about immorality. He never said they broke the law… he said what they did was wrong.
And if you read the article in Crooks and Liars..the court is done with this. Wal Mart expect the handicap to pay money she never had. But to their credit, Keith never called them pure evil.. but when things like this happen.. it’s no wonder. They could have let it go.
Doggiebobo @ 12:
I agree with you that the fu*king white house is crawling with criminals and such, it’s just that some times a big company doing what is right, rather than what is greedy would be refreshing.
ConcernedCanuck @ 18:
I believe you and I have disCUSSed this previously on another C&L thread…and we
agree…
People defending Wal-Mart as “legally” right really ought to ponder what it feels like to be kicked in the groin after having your head smashed in.
Wal-Mart was morally wrong to do exactly that. They constantly market their down-home, American image as an entrepreneurial success story that’s good for America. Pulling this crap only makes that all the more hypocritical.
CNN covered the story better: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/.....newssearch
She’s the mother of an 18-year-old soldier killed in Iraq, are the right-wingers puffing up their oh-so-patriotic chests in indignation or does corporate greed trump that?
Doggiebobo @ 28:
Yup……didn’t see it was you there until I clicked submit……..so how is it going? Can you do me a HUGE favour and quit sending your damn winter storms north? I’ve had just about as much of this cold global warming as I can take. Me bones ache.
Doggiebobo @ 1:
Hey dumbass, Keith didn’t say that what they did was illegal. It was MORALLY WRONG. Get it?
Lefty @ 30:
The current Republican party line on soldiers killed in Iraq is “so?”
No major surprise that this supreme court refused to hear her case.
Since Jan 1 ,2007 Wal Mart has costed the american taxpayers over 6.1 billion dollars in welfare for their underpaid workers.
WakeUpWalMart.com
Lefty @ 30:
One guess.
ConcernedCanuck @ 31:
Hey, it’s not me. I’m way down here in Central Texas, where weather is in the 80’s and
90’s, so I am unable to honor your request….By the way,our lakes are low, our fields are dry, we are experiencing numerous wildfires too, so not sure if just “seasonable”
or if in fact global warming is adding to some of our discomforts.
and
Rusty Medium-Legged Mack Daddy Shackleford @ 33:
The” Dick” also said they volunteered for it.
Wal-Mart is the Anti-Christ.
Inflation no chance
To increase finance
Bills pile up sky high
Send that boy off to die
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
- M. Gaye
As much as it is a poor and immoral decision by Walmart, this all comes back to the fact that this predicament never would have arisen if there was universal healthcare.
I don’t know of any employer health plans or private health insurance that doesn’t have a provision like this. This is one more reason NOT to vote for a corporatist prostitute for president, one who is going to create a wellfare program for insurance companies and care it “healthcare”.
Support HR. 676. Universal, single-payer healthcare. No insurance company involvement or participation. No $ in preference to people.
Moose @ 41: <