Judge Tosses Out Case Against Altoona, Iowa Wal-Mart
While Microsoft battles it out in the Polk County Courthouse another corporate giant has successfully defended a recent claim. This past Friday a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart filed by the parents of a 4-year-old boy who was allegedly molested in the men's room.
The boy was offered $1 by a man in the bathroom who then pulled the boy's pants down and touched him inappropriately. The boy's parents claimed the Wal-Mart failed to have policies to protect against customer-on-customer assaults and failed to take it seriously when the mother called back that night to report the complaint.
The judge issued a directed verdict dismissing the case because the plaintiffs failed to prove Wal-Mart had forseen the danger. Testimony during the trial included 10 reports of violence but only one of those reports involved anything of a sexual nature. Most of the complaints described violence by Wal-Mart employees against shoplifters. "There wasn't sufficient proof that they could have or should have forseen what the problem was here, said Judge Robert Hanson.
See the Des Moines Register article for more details.
