Jim Shank Proves Activism Works

Jim sat down to thank everyone that helped his family including Walmart Watch. Walmart tried to take advantage of his wife Debbie after she was a victim of a brutal car accident. They went after her insurance money, but stopped after the spotlight was turned on them by thousands of people who spoke out on their behalf.

Mighty WalMart Caves To The Shank Family

First off, I'd like to congratulate WalMart on doing the right thing. Secondly, the reason WalMart caved was that this decision to gain $417,000 to their profit margin brought so much negative backlash that they ultimately had to relent. Despite getting a few brownie points in my book for sparing the financial of future of this family that lost one son in Iraq and a has a mother that needs a lifetime of care, they only did it for PR purposes. If they wanted to be good citizens, they never would have filed such a heinous lawsuit.

WalMart And The Shanks, There's Two Sides To Every Story

This morning we heard that WalMart responded to Keith Olbermann's reporting about the Shank family. They said it wasn't their fault and the health insurance company was entitled to the money...and that they only recovered $277,000 and that the law was on their side because the Supreme Court declined to hear the Shank family's lawyers appeal (shocking I know). Well now that WalMart got their statement in, I'd like you to read what its like inside the Shank family.

From Christopher Shank (via WalMart Watch):

First of all, let it be known that I’m Debbie Shank’s son, and not some random dude putting in his two cents. That being said, here’s the skinny…

When we sued the trucking company, our lawyer told us that the only amount we could get off of the trucking company was what the truck was insured for...namely, a million dollars. As they were a small trucking company, they had no real net worth, and the amount we could sue them for was just for their insurance.

When we received the settlement of 1 million, a third of that was paid out to the lawyers. After that, my dad was given a portion of that to make up for lost wages. We told Wal-Mart about all of this, and they basically said “Okay.” and did nothing. We set up the rest, 417K, to take care of mom. We took care of her for three years on that, but when the statute of limitations was set to expire on Wal-Mart suing us, they literally had days left, they filed to sue us. Our lawyer told us at the time that they were only doing this to keep their options open, but Wal-Mart decided that they wanted to go after the settlement, as they say time and time again, “out of fairness for everyone in the medical plan”.

And so it went. The first ruling came August 31, 2006. At the time it was the worst thing that had happened. Six days later, my brother was killed. Dad said “Fine. Whatever. They won.” We were without any will to keep going. Our lawyers said “We’ll appeal. You just don’t worry about things. We’ll take care of all of it.”

Appeal after appeal, Wal-Mart won them all. We finally appealed to the Supreme Court. Last week, they said they weren’t going to take our case. We lost. Now, Wal-Mart can’t take any more money than we had in the trust fund, so they get that. But, we still have 150K in outstanding medical bills. We have a fund set up that has accepted donations, but it quickly depletes due to bills. Even with government assistance, we still must pay anywhere from 500-1000 per month to keep mom in the nursing home, and that’s not counting bills she has from trips to the hospital (a couple weeks ago she was bleeding internally) . The outstanding bills we have, they can sue my father directly, so it’s looking like he may have to sell his home at least. My youngest brother, if he wants to have the money to go to college, will himself either have to take out thousands in loans or join the military.

Dad has worked all his life, was set to retire in 5 years, but now it’s looking as if he’ll have to work longer and longer. Plus he has cancer to worry about.

So, that’s the story. I have a feeling that somewhere along the lines, be it by Wal-Mart, the courts, the lawyers, the trucking company, or a combination of all, we’ve been taken advantage of. We could only sue for so much, we had to pay the lawyers, the courts decided to maintain the status quo, and Wal-Mart sold it’s soul.

Whoever’s fault it is, we’re screwed. Plain and simple.

If WalMart thinks that this family's ordeal is fair, then this takes my feelings for WalMart to a whole other level. With the billions that they make every year to the outstanding wealth of the Walton family, they should be paying for Debbie Shank's bills with no questions asked. Instead they are suing the family for everything they've got.

How f**king disgusting is that?

WalMart Responds To Keith Olbermann, Fails Miserably

Sometimes I feel bad for the people that have to try and defend the actions of WalMart. It might even come close to being as bad as Dana Perino's job. Then again, like Dana Perino, they chose to apply for it, so screw them....and screw Daphne Moore for trying to defend the corporate behemoth for suing an employee who was hit by a truck and wanted to take her settlement money away. She had the chutzpah to respond to Keith Olbermann's excoriating remarks against the corrupt corporation.

Here's the WalMart excuse:

"This is a very sad case and we understand that people will naturally have an emotional and sympathetic reaction. While the Shank case involves a tragic situation, the reality is that the health plan is required to protect its assets so that it can pay the future claims of other associates and their family members. These plans are funded by associate premiums and company contributions. Any money recovered is returned to the health plan, not to the business. This is done out of fairness to everyone who contributes to and benefits from the plan. The Supreme Court recently declined to hear an appeal of the case, which concludes all litigation. While Wal-Mart's benefit plan was entitled to more than the amount that remained in the Shank trust, the plan only recovered the funds remaining in that trust," which according to reports amounted to about $277,000.

Aww, you only got $277,000 of the money awarded to her? This woman suffered brain damage and who knows how terrible her recovery was/still is and WalMart has the audacity to say they are benevolent because they didn't go after money that Shank didn't have? Seriously, they are evil, evil, evil. I do not believe for one second that WalMart can then shift the blame on to the health plan, especially since WalMart dictates terms with whomever they deal with. Their employee Debbie Shank paid for insurance through her premium and she should be entitled to be cared for, not to be financially raped by WalMart and their tool of a health insurance company.

Keith Olbermann is right, they truly are the worst person in the world.