Update on Black Friday Stampede

In the news today, was a story about the family of the Wal-Mart worker who was trampled to death and that they are suing. While I half expected this, I'm very surprised at the number of people they have decided to sue. In addition to suing Wal-Mart, they are suing the strip mall where Wal-Mart is located, the security company Wal-Mart hired, Nassau County, and the Nassau County PD. The claims against Wal-Mart, I get. I've always felt Wal-Mart needed to better control these types of events. Stampedes have happened before. How exactly are the rest of these entities responsible? The strip mall has absolutely no control over the sales Wal-Mart offers, they are not responsible for Wal-Mart's security. The security company was doing as instructed by their employers, Wal-Mart, and they are not liable unless an egregious mistake was made on their part. The most incredilous of all of these is the County and the PD. How in the world could they have possibly foreseen this type of thing happening, or where for that matter, and been on scene to prevent it? The police can only do so much.

This is a horrible, horrible thing. Not only because a person lost their life, but also because it shows the lack of humanity left in this world. But the bottom line is, suing everyone under the sun will do nothing but make a lot of lawyers very happy. Should Wal-Mart be investigated to ensure they did everything within their power to keep their employees safe? Absolutely. If they are found negligent, then by all means they should pay. But the rest of this lawsuit is frivilous. The very inclusion of these other parties diminshes the substance of this lawsuit.