Court of Public Opinion Sways Wal-Mart in Battle Over Legal Winnings

Health Law

Court of Public Opinion Sways Wal-Mart in Battle Over Legal Winnings

Posted Apr 2, 2008, 01:52 pm CDT
By Molly McDonough

A Missouri man, who lost a son in Iraq and whose wife suffers from debilitating memory loss because of an auto accident, couldn't convince his wife's former employer to back off its claim to the money the family recovered for her accident. At least not until his plight made prime-time news.

After ABC News aired an interview with Jim Shank Wal-Mart decided it was "moved by Ms. Shank's extraordinary situation" and offered an apology to the Shank family, ABC News reports.

"Occasionally, others help us step back and look at a situation in a different way. This is one of those times," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

ABC News notes that the retail giant wasn't so conciliatory as late as last week when it continued to push for $400,000 in health care reimbursements from the Shank family. Wal-Mart sought the reimbursement after the Shanks won a $1 million settlement from the trucking company that owned the vehicle in the wreck that injured Deborah Shank, who was then a Wal-Mart stock clerk.

Deborah Shank, according to ABC, remains in a nursing home and will accumulate medical bills of more than $10 million for her lifetime care. Repaying Wal-Mart would ruin the Shanks financially.

In the story, ABC News quotes a Wharton School of Business fellow who was critical of Wal-Mart's black-and-white reimbursement policy.

"I've seen employers set up provisions within [health care plans] so they have the right to recover, but can pursue recovery on a selective basis," Daniel O'Meara told ABC. "They won't just look at the factor but also look to the size of what they can recover."

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