OBAMA Citizens

Wal-Mart drops it's suit against the Shanks, but still owes them $200,000 in legal defense fees.

New Wal-Mart Petition

We want to thank all who signed the petition to save Debra Shank, her husband, and her children from the clutches of Wal-Mart. We can not take all the credit for Wal-Mart's change of heart, but, we all played a part in this Victory. We contributed and accomplished what the Supreme Court would not. You should feel good about yourself for speaking out as it is part of our responsibilities as citizens of this Country to stand up against injustice.

We also want to thank Wal-Mart for changing its course with regards to this matter. However, after the Shank's legal fees of $200,000 it leave a little more than $200,000 to pay her twenty-four hour a day healthcare. These fees were incurred defending her against Wal-Mart's Corporate lawyers.

Now we need to speak up again. Sign the new petition thanking Wal-Mart for dropping their suite against the Shanks and imploring them to reimburse the Shanks for their legal expenses. She will need these funds to tide her medical coverage so she can live comfortably for the rest of her life. We ask you to stand again and let Wal-Mart know we want them to return her legal fees.

We ask everyone to join us and send the following petition to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Follow-up Petition

Petition We the undersigned thank Wal-Mart for dropping its legal interests to Ms Shank's Healthcare trust fund We also ask Wal-Mart to return to the Shanks all monies spent defending themselves against Wal-Mart's staff lawyers. These cost should not have been incurred in the first place and the money will be better used taking care of Debra Shank for the rest of her life. We will be monitoring Wal-Marts position on this matter and eagerly await your response Thank you for your time

Name


Email

Click the button above to email this petition to President & CEO of Wal-Mart Stores/Supercenters USA: Eduardo Castro-Wright and to Executive VP Wal-Mart Store Operations: Pat Curran

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Our original story...

The family of Deborah Shank has lost its last chance to stop Wal-Mart Stores from recouping hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses from an accident settlement the Shanks hoped to use for her future care in a nursing home.

Last November, the WSJ reported in a front-page story how the retail giant had sued Deborah Shank a 52-year-old former Wal-Mart employee left permanently brain damaged from a car accident nearly eight years ago for the money and won. Like most employee health plans, Wal-Mart's gives it the right to recover medical expenses for accident-related care if a worker also collects damages in an injury suit.

After losing in federal court and again on appeal, the Shanks' last legal hope was a bid to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yesterday, though, the court announced it wouldn't take up the case, bringing the matter to a close.

More companies see such recoveries as a way to make a dent in soaring health care costs. Daphne Moore, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said, "It's a very sad case, and we understand that people have a very emotional and sympathetic reaction." But the plan, she said, is obligated to act in the interest of the health benefits of its employees as a whole. The benefits are designed so that when an employee does have an accident, "the plan steps in and covers those medical expenses so our associates don't have to worry about them being covered, and then later to reimburse the plan if and when they receive funds for the accident from a third party," she said.

Wal-Mart originally sued for nearly $470,000 in medical expenses after the May 2000 accident, charging that the Shanks had violated the terms of the health plan by not reimbursing it. But after legal fees and some medical expenses, only $417,000 of the $700,000 that Mrs. Shank was awarded remained in a special trust set up specifically for her care.

Though the case was long shot, some health plan law specialists hoped the U.S. Supreme Court would tackle it to resolve a still murky question in the courts over the extent to which company health plans can recover from employees' accident settlements. Many plans use language like Wal-Mart's, which dictates that it is to be paid first out of any settlement, regardless of what remains for the injured person. Moreover, the victim is responsible for all legal costs in pursuing the suit.

As for Deborah Shank, her husband says the family still has some of the roughly $10,000 in donations it received last fall after a flurry of media attention to supplement her care in a Jackson, Mo., nursing home. When it runs out, she may have to be moved from a private to a semi-private room. "I was ready for the worse, but I'm still disappointed," he says. "Now the government will be all that's left to take care of her."

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Our follow-up story...

We beat "Count-Down" to the punch, but catch what Keith has to say about Wal-Mart!

The story about Wal-Mart vs Debera Shank has come to our attention. We were shocked to read about and watch the story. As you may not know Wal-Mart makes $20,000 per minute, 24-7, 365 days a year! That is $10,512,000,000 per year. Keep this in mind when you read Debera's Story and watch the video.

It should also be known the Shanks recently lost their son to the war in Iraq. We can not stand by silently and allow Wal-Mart to crush this family's misfortune even further into the abyss. How much money does the Walton family really need to make? If they take this woman health care trust fund away the tax payers will foot the bill and Wal-Mart keeps making $20,000 per minute.

The $470,000 that Wal-Mart wants is just 23.5 minutes of their profits for a year. They should call the 23.5 minutes of their operation a benefit for Debera and leave her health care money alone.

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Our Original Wal-Mart Petition

Wal-Mart Petition

We the undesigned feel that in light of the Debera Shank Story we will no longer support Wal-Mart Stores. It is clearly understood that you have every legal right to this money, however, it is your option not to pursue her health care trust fund. By doing so we feel you have no sense of compassion for this family, your workers, or the communities in which you operate. We urge you to change course and halt your actions against the Shank family. As a show of support for the Shank Family we will no longer patronize Wal-Mart or Sam's Club Stores and we will urge all others that we come in contact with to do the same. We will be monitoring your company's future actions in this matter and implore to do right by the Shanks. Thank you for your time.