Wal-Mart reached an agreement with the Nassau County District Attorney in relation to incidents stemming from a stampede at one of their Long Island stores on Black Friday. Last November, shoppers looking to take advantage of early Christmas deals stormed the store, injuring several employees and shoppers in the process. One employee died in the stampede.
As part of the settlement, Wal-Mart avoids criminal prosecution over the death of their employee. It also ends the investigation that has been conducted by the District Attorney’s Office since last November.
The agreement requires Wal-Mart to comply with the following provisions:
- Develop a crowd management plan for post-Thanksgiving Day sales events at all 92 stores in the state, which will be approved and monitored by a third party safety team
- Establish a $400,000 victim’s compensation fund to repay expenses for victims — expenses covered will include lost or damaged property, lost wages, and medical bills from injuries sustained
- Provide a $1.5 million grant to Nassau County social services and nonprofit groups
- Set aside 50 jobs to Nassau County teens at the county’s five store locations for the next three years
Wal-Mart did not have to admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The District Attorney felt that this was a much better resolution to the case than prosecuting Wal-Mart on criminal charges. By law, a corporation cannot be sentenced to jail. The maximum fine they could have received for the incident was $10,000. By cutting this deal with Wal-Mart, the DA was able to force the company to make sweeping changes to its safety policies that will hopefully benefit all 92 stores in the state.
If Wal-Mart fails to comply with any portion of this agreement in the next three years, the District Attorney’s Office has the right to reopen the investigation and resume criminal prosecution.
Injured victims still have the option of not accepting compensation through the established fund and instead filing a premises liability lawsuit against Wal-Mart. However, by opting out of the settlement plan, injured victims risk not receiving any compensation at all. The corporation also still faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of the employee who died in the incident.
If you have wrongful death claim in the Long Island or New York City areas, please contact the Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. today to schedule a consultation.
