I think the way a situation like this should be looked at, especially from the standpoint of a company that has quarterly earnings in excess of 90 billion, should be one of compassion. Sure, there is a clause in the docs signed by this woman that clearly states Wal Mart 'could' go after any monies given to an employee for a non work related accident. Wal Mart is no stranger to negative publicity, and to that, they should have seen a great opportunity with this case to spin it in their favor. The headline could have been "Wal Mart takes care of one of its own" or something to that effect. What they need is a savvy PR person to handle damage control. Each of you is entitled to your own opinion, but what happens if the shoe is on your foot one day? What would your position be then? It's easy to stand on the outskirts and say that Wal Mart is due its money and too bad for the brain damaged woman, but if it was your wife or your mom or your sister, would you feel the same? I doubt it. This is the second story along these lines that I've seen about Wal Mart, the first was withg regard to employee contribution vs. Wal Mart contributions to a fund for employees in need. The jist of the story was that there is a fund that Wal Mart employees can draw from in times of need. This fund is available to any employee and is contributed to by not onl;y employees but Wal Mart too. Thing is, at the time of the story (some time last year) the employees had contributed over 1 million dollars to Wal Marts $4,000. That's right, 4 grand. If you treated YOUR employees like that, how long would you expect them to stay around? Not to mention that these employees are directly from the community that Wal Mart built in, not very good customer relations is it? You have to realize, most Wal Marts are in rural, more economically challenged regions of the country. Places where the people need, no, depend on income to survive even if it is in a singlewide trailer. With plans to open stores in China, what happens when this kind of stuff starts happening to 1 billion Chinese? Piss them off and we're looking at big trouble, possibly war...all because of Wal Mart?!? Now I admit, that's a bit dramatic, but I think you can make the connection, it's not that hard. Just because you're big and you have a lot of money, doesn't mean what you do (within your rights or not) is right nor does it mean it has to be accepted by the public.
her situation is unfortunate and morally speaking I would say that they shouldn't try to sue her for anything...but the fact of the matter remains, business is business...they should have gotten a better lawyer to get them a higher settlement
Just because someone is disabled doesnt mean they shouldnt follow the rules. Wouldnt you want your money back if you were in their position? I sure as hell would.