This is the singlemost important example of how Wal-Mart could have chosen a different path and been the hero. This is a one-in-a-million chance that could have been the way Wal-Mart made up for a lot of the wrongs they've done in the past. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't take advantage of the publicity of this case, and maybe for the first time, at least appeared to have enough of a heart to take care of one of their own. They didn't have to go after her settlement. Letting her family keep the settlement for her care could have made up for a lot of the lousy, underhanded tactics, multitudes of labor lawsuits and the general feeling that taxpayers are paying for Wal-Mart's healthcare. Apparently the CEO of this company doesn't feel that Americans are capable of remembering stories like this. Americans, to most CEOs, are potential customers. To Wal-Mart's CEO, we're just the hostile taxpayers, so he doesn't care what we think. He's done a fine job of making sure that none of us will EVER shop there again.

Can"t beleive the 8th Circuit Court decision!! Makes you wander who"s getting paid under the table. Guess Wal-Mart needed another Super Center built so they could close down another local respectable business. I guess thats what we can expect from someone that says they"re "Bringing It Back" I guess they are talking about there Jelly Beans they sell made in Mexico. Cant beleive that i could work for a company that treated their employees like they did Debbie Shank. All the employees and CEO better pay attention to whats going on they could be next. I think Wal-Mart is getting to big for there britches. they forgot who made them can break them. Its time too put this company and others in its place

I think Wal-mart Is pathetic and disgusting in any comminity we should fight to have them shut down all the stores in the U.S.A and rid the Nasty taste of there action Get Rid Of Wal-mart Forever. Bring Back K-Mart a family worth shopping store.

I also think Wal-Mart is disgusting and our community made a huge mistake. Of course how do you stop them from coming in? We are a small county and the supervisors thought it was a great idea, with LOTS of jobs added! Yeah.
We no longer have a place to shop except Wal-Mart. Our local stores have closed and become consignment shops or antique shops. We cannot buy American made, everything is coming from China. Our county, like many in the south depended on furniture and textiles. All gone, thanks to Wally World and China.

I am sickened by the Debbie Shank tragedy, and propose a nation-wide boycott of Wal-Mart. The corporate executives who are allowing this to happen, no doubt, have a special place reserved for them in hell. John Smile is a sorry excuse for a human being. He should be ashamed.

I think all of this is silly. Why is it ok for everyone else to be held to a legally binding contract agreement, but not Wal-mart? Because they have more? Not a legal argument. Because someone does not happen to like them? Again, not a valid legal argument. Wal-mart did not sue them for no reason.

The INSURANCE company that Wal-mart is insured under has the claim based on the fact that while this woman was waiting to get money from a lawsuit, they were covering her bills. Their coverage was based on the contingency that if the person/company (namely "the trucking company that hit Debbie's car") RESPONSIBLE for those expenses ends up paying the Shank family, then the insurance company would be paid back. Period. It IS standard and is probably in most of your insurance policies, if you ever took the time to READ them.

If Wal-mart refuses to pursue this, it is ENTIRELY possible that their insurer, who covers thousands of people who WON'T have a pending lawsuit to cover them, can drop them as an insured company. So then what do all of those Wal-mart employees do when they have no coverage because Wal-mart decided they did not have to follow the rules?

Objectivity is an amazing thing. Instead of allowing emotion and dislike of someone or some entity to govern our thought process, maybe actually looking at what the facts MEAN as a whole would be intelligent.

Wal-mart never takes care of it's own. This is another shining example of bureaucratic garbage. My spouse suffered for 5 years as an employee that was injured on the job. How many of those stories are out there. The top people only care about their profits. If you work for wal-mart don't get hurt on the job. I no longer shop at wal0mart. I use to spend over 2,000 per month on groceries and other items now I go to various other stores. I will not support shady liars.

It is true that the insurance company may be entitled to be paid back however the woman did not sue so she could buy a new car etc, she sued for payment to help for long term care for the problems she will have to live with for the rest of her life. If she was ok and not hurt then yes the insurance company should be paid back but now who is going to pay for her medical needs from here on out certainly not the government or anyone else because we all know that the working class people in America are not appreciated.

Looks like Ms Shank also got screwed by her attorneys twice, not Walmart.
The attorney's didn't feel the obligation to offer their fees towards her care (interestingly the amount of fees was not mentioned) even though they effectively got her nothing out of the settlement. But the attorney's had to know that there were 100's of 1000's of $$ in medical expenses that would not be covered by the settlement, and therefore, as an attorney were obligated to include Wal-Mart in the settlement discussions as third part subrogers. This is a common practice in PI law. I think she should sue her attorneys . . . UNLESS this was explained to the plaintiff/family and they accepted the settlement anyway.
The Plaintiff would only have to pay the additional $51,000 if she received a third party settlement that would cover that claim too.

Correction. The Attorney got $500,000 - MORE than even the plaintiff. More than Walmart. She needs to sue her attorney.
I know this makes Walmart look bad, but as an attorney myself, I can tell you her attorney screwed up.

Want to make make a statement about this case without having to go out of you way, or boycott your local store?

Don't buy something at wal-mart, prefferably something you were planning on buying with your tax return of the tax relief money that's coming in may. Go buy the item at another store or online, or just not at all.

Then e-mail wal-mart's customer service group, and let them know that you were planning on spending $xxx.xx on an item at wal-mart, but that after hearing about this case, you've decided to not make the purchase. That you hope that they lose all of that money they sued for in lost sales exclusivly because of this horrific incident.

If five hundred people don't spend a thousand dollars each, come tax-return time, then at the very least the company will have lost money on this shambles, and maybe will rethink the backlash that could ensue.

When our courts legalized abortions, human life lost all value. Animals are given more consideration than babies and the other helpless souls in this world.Why would any one be concerned about the unheathy people in this world when thousands of healthy unborns are murdered daily. The cry of revenge for devalued life can be heard in our extreme devistating weather, monsterous fires, land slides, outrageous fuel prices[that raises the cost of every thing],droughts, and over crowded prisons. We have written our own death sentence.

This is just not right.This kind of unfairness justmakes you not want to shop at Walmart at all. My daughter use to be an employee of walmart I am glad she no longer work's there with this kind unlivelyness to the families that have to work there to support there famly's

We all should know by now that Walmart does not or has never cared about anything except their bottom line. They have very low scruples and will go to any lenght to make their point and get where they want to go. We must blame ourselves for letting this happen to our wonderful country. Banning together and not shopping there is our first step to help knock them off the pedestal they seem to be on...........Let's do it!

When Walmart takes back the money ,the taxpayer will have to step in and pay for the poor woman's care. It is pitiful that we have such greed by a company which has developed a monoply at the expense of all the small businesses in communities. They came in with cheap prices now it is only cheap merchandise and the price is not cheap. Unfortunately we have no option. Every other store in town is closed,

Wal-Mart was perfectly right to pursue the lawsuit and the decision is fair and just.

The family received money to cover the medical expenses from the trucking company at fault. That same money was already paid out by her insurance coverage. OF COURSE it should be repaid. If the family had desired more money, they should have structured their settlement with the trucking company differently.

While I have no great like or dislike for Wal-Mart, there is absolutely no sense of foul play or unfairness in this case.

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart years ago because they break labor laws and child labor laws, don't promote women, refuse to pay employees for working overtime, and so on. Wal-Mart even locked employees in their stores at night without a key to get out, dispite the fact that the employees had no way of getting out of the store if there was a fire. I'm not shocked that they would sue a poor sick woman and basically steal her money when they make billions. How much lower can they go?

Years ago I use to work for Walmart and was very happy to be a part of such a great company.I truly felt that Sam left a good legacy behind.That opinion changed as I heard about the lawsuit against one of their own.Has the greed of money corrupted the company so much that it outweighs moral.To give over millions of dollars to charities and then take from the disabled casts a bad cloud over the company.God had a way of making it seem like you're on top and then when you do this,he will drop you! They could have offered her some money since they donate millioms to charities on a regular basis. Even if they were so called looking out for the best interest of the insured employees, taking from the disabled is a low blow. I don't shop there as much now and that started before this, now everytime I think about going in there my mind will be on her. The lawyers received too much money and the company should step up and help. The lawyer should have known about her having to reimburse the insurance company and should have added that in with the lawsuit. One thing about wrong doings, it comes back around.

First of all, she should sue her legal counsel. It is their responsbility to know to sue for the amount she needs, PLUS the monies required to pay back the insurance company. Even the $750 I wanted for my car accident I would have had to pay back to the insurance company, so if I were to sue, I'd sue for twice as much.

A duh.

But otherwise, I don't see how Wal-Mart has a case. They settled; it never went to court.

I'm finished with you, no more Walmart until this issue is resolved. All my friends believe it also. You will hurt over this one. No American would shop at your store after hurting this American Mother the way you have, I'm done.

I also, am a former employee of the "family" store. Correction...they're no longer a "family" store since Mr. Walton passed away. I'm sure he's doing a constant spin in his grave with the way things are going in his store.

Ok, so, the insurance company needed compensated for the money spent. Take the money back, but somehow give it back to be a nice guy. I'm sure there were ways you could give this poor woman some money. Take one product and give her the profits throughout the company on it for ONE DAY. I'm sure it would equal to MORE than that amount.

I'm sure Walmart is NOT reading these posts let alone the people who could make it happen.

I really try not to shop there, but they make it hard since they've run everyone else out of town. What are we going to do when they fold?

What ever happend to the USA made products. They hardly have any of those.

This story is disgusting.

Not that it will effect Wal-mart much, but after hearing this I will pay the higher prices and shop at other stores for the things I need. Wal-Mart's prices are not that much lower anymore anyway. It would be nice if others would follow and do the same. It makes me wonder what Walt would think about the company he started.

I will stop shopping at Walmart until they reverse this decision! Target and Kmart have competitive prices.

It Sucks to Be Wal-Mart !!!!

Not only was this women screwed by Walmart, her attorneys took more than half of the money. According to the settlement amount reported, she won one million dollars she ended up with 417,000 once her attorneys got paid. How is it that they took more than half of her money and no one said anything about it. I think this is a travesty of justice in every sense of the word.

I think its sad that the wal mart kids make about 20 billion each a year. I think its sad that for some communities wal-mart has become the only store. It Sucks that wal marts mass buying of chinease goods has cost america millions of high paying jobs. It sucks that americans do not get that wal mart is part of whats wrong with this country. Big companies are in control and dont care about the little people. They make billions and we make less and less well they take more and more.

I am Done with Wal mart!!!!!!

Dave

I still have to laugh at all the ignorance out there. No one bothered to look at the real issue - she got what amounted to a "loan" which was agreed upon and STANDARD in any policy under Wal Marts INSURANCE carrier - NOT WalMart. Wake up people. Before you voice some emotional opinion learn to READ the facts and determine what they mean. WAL MART had nothing to do with this. Funny how people just LOVE the hype and drama... pathetic.