Wal-Mart and Fired Exec Drop Dueling Lawsuits
The mudslinging and the litigation that stemmed from a lawsuit by fired Wal-Mart marketing executive Julie Roehm appear to be drawing to a conclusion.
Roehm has agreed to drop her suit and is admitting that some of her allegations concerning the store’s CEO and a Minnesota businessman turned out to be incorrect, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).
Both Wal-Mart and the businessman, Irwin Jacobs, have also agreed to drop their claims against Roehm, the newspaper reports.
After Roehm filed a wrongful termination suit against the retailer, it filed a countersuit claiming that Roehm had an affair with a subordinate and had accepted restaurant meals and vodka from a would-be supplier.
Roehm denied the allegations and added some of her own, claiming that Jacobs, who does business with Wal-Mart, had sold yachts and a large pink diamond to CEO Lee Scott for preferential prices. Jacobs, in turn, sued Roehm for defamation.
Roehm said in a statement that she is dropping the case because of the costs and a “recent exchange of information between her lawyers and those for Wal-Mart and Irwin Jacobs, which explained the inaccuracy of certain allegations included in her legal filing, specifically allegations about Lee Scott and Mr. Jacobs.”
