Wal-Mart – Overlawyered

Wal-Mart told to pay $7.5 million in Alabama customer fall

Walter Olson — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 05:05:29 +0000

A Phenix City, Alabama Wal-Mart customer caught his foot in a display pallet and fell while lifting a watermelon. A jury has now told the retailer to pay him $7.5 million. [Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, AL.com]

Tags: Alabama, slip and fall, Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart told to pay $7.5 million in Alabama customer fall is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Walmart sued after teen steals machete and kills her Uber driver”

Walter Olson — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 04:05:50 +0000

Because anti-shoplifting measures should be perfect, and because these days what isn’t reasonably foreseeable? “It is unclear whether Walmart employees and their security staff were aware that the girl had the weapons when she left the store.” [David Kravets, Ars Technica]

Tags: third party liability for crime, Wal-Mart

“Walmart sued after teen steals machete and kills her Uber driver” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Politics roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 06 May 2016 04:05:18 +0000

Disparage at thy peril: three Democratic lawmakers demand FTC investigation of private group that purchased $58,000 in ads disparaging CFPB, a government agency [ABC News] So many politicos targeting their opponents’ speech these days [Barton Hinkle]
A pattern we’ve seen over the years: promoting himself as outspoken social conservative, trial lawyer running for chairman of Republican Party of Texas [Mark Pulliam, SE Texas Record]
Some of which goes to union political work: “Philly Pays $1.5 Million to ‘Ghost Teachers'” [Evan Grossman, Pennsylvania Watchdog via Jason Bedrick]
“However objectionable one might find Trump’s rhetoric, the [event-disrupting] protesters are in the wrong.” [Bill Wyman/Columbia Journalism Review, earlier]
Hillary Clinton’s connections to Wal-Mart go way back, and hooray for that [Ira Stoll and column]
I went out canvassing GOP voters in Maryland before the primary. Here’s what they told me. [Ricochet]

Tags: CFPB, Donald Trump, Federal Trade Commission, Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, politics, schools, Texas, Wal-Mart, wayward Republicans, WO writings

Politics roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“A Little Wal-Mart Gift Card for You, A Big Payout for Lawyers”

Walter Olson — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 05:24:37 +0000

“A member of a class-action lawsuit received a Walmart gift card as part of a settlement, but because of a legal ambiguity, the real gift may be for the lawyers.” With bonus Ted Frank interview quotes [David Segal, “The Haggler,” New York Times] And more on the mentioned Duracell case as showing why the Supreme Court should police class action settlements, as Cato has urged in a brief [Ilya Shapiro]

Tags: class action settlements, cy pres, Ted Frank, Wal-Mart

“A Little Wal-Mart Gift Card for You, A Big Payout for Lawyers” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Wal-Mart’s Mexico practices: the sequel

Walter Olson — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 10:05:27 +0000

Remember that big New York Times exposé that accused Wal-Mart of massive Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)/bribery offenses during its expansion in Mexico? Oops:

A high-profile federal probe into allegations of widespread corruption at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s operations in Mexico has found little in the way of major offenses, and is likely to result in a much smaller case than investigators first expected, according to people familiar with the probe.

[Aruna Viswanatha and Devlin Barrett, WSJ (paywall), earlier] More: Mike Koehler, FCPA Professor.

Tags: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Mexico, Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart’s Mexico practices: the sequel is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 04:05:28 +0000

Lefty argument du jour: government benefits for working poor subsidize low-wage employers. Oh? [Adam Ozimek via Tyler Cowen] Similarly: Tim Worstall; Michael Strain, WaPo; Coyote;
“OSHA’s Latest Reporting and Recordkeeping Mandates: More Burdens with Few Benefits” [Eric J. Conn, Washington Legal Foundation]
“EEOC: New York City owes underpaid minority female employees $246 million” [NY Daily News, NY Post (“de Blasio administration offered no evidence to contest the charges, the commission said”), Jon Hyman]
Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal require countries to adopt minimum wage laws? [Simon Lester, Cato]
House hearing on Obama executive order blacklisting contractors over labor violations in unrelated areas of their business, or at subcontractors [witnesses and testimony, Walberg statement, press release, video, SHRM]
Sixth Circuit retaliation decision confirms need for kid-glove handling of employees who file discrimination complaints [Jon Hyman]
Spontaneous protest doesn’t come cheap: SEIU spent $24 million in 2014 on fast food/retail wage movement [WLS Chicago 7]

Tags: government contract compliance, labor unions, NYC, OSHA, restaurants, Sixth Circuit, Wal-Mart

Labor and employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“The pumpkin weighed 8.4 ounces and was ‘squishy.'”

Walter Olson — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:15:19 +0000

A Florida appeals court has reinstated a jury’s verdict of no liability in the case of a woman who while shopping at Wal-Mart was struck in the back with an 8.4 ounce (that’s ounce, not pound) ornamental pumpkin. According to the court’s footnote 1, the projectile in question was “squishy.” The trial lasted three weeks. [Schwartz v. Wal-Mart Stores: Fifth District, FindLaw]

Tags: Wal-Mart

“The pumpkin weighed 8.4 ounces and was ‘squishy.'” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I wish more companies would do this when attacked

Walter Olson — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 18:27:30 +0000

New York Times columnist Tim Egan takes a swing at Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart swings back.

P.S. Now expanded into a longer post at Cato — don’t miss the (very good!) views of Obama administration chief economist Jason Furman. (& Scott Shackford, Reason)

Tags: minimum wage, New York Times, Wal-Mart

I wish more companies would do this when attacked is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 04:05:55 +0000

“Coming to Your Workplace Soon? Union Organizing Efforts Via the Company’s Email System” [Daniel Kaplan, Foley & Lardner]
“Pennsylvania Unions Still Exempt from Harassment [Law], Continue Harassing with Impunity” [Trey Kovacs, Workplace Choice, earlier here, here, here]
Music production gravitates to right to work states attract in part because union musicians less afraid of discipline for taking gigs there [Variety on union’s dispute with videogame-composer member]
New definition of “nationwide strike”: protesters show up at a few Wal-Marts, few workers pay attention [On Labor]
Presently constituted NLRB and U.S. Department of Labor are zealous union partisans, not impartial arbiters [Alex Bolt]
“Workers filing wage-and-hour lawsuits under Labor Act at record pace” [Crain’s Detroit Business]
“Despite repeated failures, Card Check still top Big Labor priority” [Sean Higgins, Washington Examiner]

Tags: labor unions, music and musicians, National Labor Relations Board, Pennsylvania, wage and hour suits, Wal-Mart

Labor roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

If you’ve ever thought, “Costco is like Wal-Mart except it pays high wages…”

Walter Olson — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 15:58:06 +0000

…you need to read Megan McArdle’s column (via David Henderson). And Ira Stoll points out that some workers you see at Costco might be getting lower wages than you think.

Tags: minimum wage, Wal-Mart

If you’ve ever thought, “Costco is like Wal-Mart except it pays high wages…” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system