I don't know if you understand the nature of the job of driving. You are tasked to get somewhere in X number of hours or you are done. Whether it is rational does not matter. You get from A to B in X time or you're fired. In this day that means the chance of losing everything because you don't walk into another job. With work or ruin being the choices the former wins. Whether this applies in this specific case I can't say, but I do know it happens, often. So the the driver may have made the decision to eat and have a roof over his family's head, but ultimately those who blackmail people have responsibility in the matter. There is no such thing as a free choice when a gun is put to your head.
Edit- I see commuted 700 miles. That needs more examination. If the driver did so because of work (such as he was returning after a trip on business) then WM should have known the dangers. If he just decided to drive that distance then show up then it's on him.
The driver was told to report to the warehouse located in Delaware and he lives in GA. WalMart knew where he was coming from before he arrived in DE.
- Merg
If Wal-Mart's claim is that the injured parties are at fault because they weren't wearing their seatbelts then Wal-Mart is full of it.
If Wal-Mart's claim is that the injured parties contributed to the severity of their injuries because they weren't wearing their seatbelts then Wal-Mart may have a perfectly legitimate srgument.
I don't know if you understand the nature of the job of driving. You are tasked to get somewhere in X number of hours or you are done. Whether it is rational does not matter. You get from A to B in X time or you're fired. In this day that means the chance of losing everything because you don't walk into another job. With work or ruin being the choices the former wins. Whether this applies in this specific case I can't say, but I do know it happens, often. So the the driver may have made the decision to eat and have a roof over his family's head, but ultimately those who blackmail people have responsibility in the matter. There is no such thing as a free choice when a gun is put to your head.
Edit- I see commuted 700 miles. That needs more examination. If the driver did so because of work (such as he was returning after a trip on business) then WM should have known the dangers. If he just decided to drive that distance then show up then it's on him.
If my boss tells me to report to a particular place, it's up to me whether I do that in a safe manner.
Likewise, it's on the driver if he chooses to do what he did. There really isn't any arguing it.
Very true, but if Walmart tells the guy to be in DE at 8 am and he was told at 10 pm the night before then I would think they would be liable. Now, if the schedule was set up a week or so in advance and he had a few days off in between jobs, the onus is on the driver then.
- Merg
10-1-2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...gain_n_5912942.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
Tracy Morgan May Never Perform Again, Doctors Reportedly Say
Tracy Morgan's professional fate is in limbo, with new reports indicating that he suffered a crippling brain injury following the crash he survived this summer.
He is currently in rehab for speech, cognitive, vocational and physical functionalities. Morelli said doctors don't yet know whether the wheelchair-bound Morgan, 45, will return to his previous self.
Comparative Negligence is nothing new and has been around for many years and is used in many states. If the defense can show that the occupants would not have been injured to the extent had they been wearing a seat belt then Wal Mart should not be liable for that amount.
I hate corporations as much as the next guy but this is a pretty well settled area of Tort law. It doesn't absolve Wal-Mart of liability, it simply reduces the amount of the award by the percentage that the plaintiff contributed to their own harm. It's also a standard defense in a state that has this system of negligence law.
He is currently in rehab for speech, cognitive, vocational and physical functionalities.
He had most of this before the wreck...
Just setting the chess board. No matter how you slice it, it was partly his fault for not mitigating the damaging effects of inertia.
Dave, it's a civil lawsuit case, what do you expect lawyers defending Walmart to do? Lawyers will try anything, often up to and including lying to defend their clients. What would you expect these lawyers to do - ruin their careers because Walmart is evil?
Edit: This is (much) less about corporations and more about lawyers and lawsuits anyway.
Fern
That wasn't a serious statement.Why do you hate corporations?
