Williams Kastner trial team consisting of Eddy Silverman, Ashley Langley, Tristan Pirak, Xavier Gardner, and Nick Sacco successfully defended a negligence and one-time discrimination case against Walmart, prevailing outright on 2-of-3 of the plaintiffs’ causes of action and persuading the Federal Court jury to award only $5,000 total on the plaintiffs’ remaining claim.
The case arose out of the alleged detention of two African-American minors at a Walmart in Federal Way. A Walmart loss prevention associate observed the children alone in the store; she testified that it was after dark and she was concerned for the children’s safety. She approached the children and asked them to follow her to the loss prevention office to call their father, who became angry on the phone. The father accused Walmart of profiling the children, accusing them of stealing, and discriminating against them. He lived nearby, so he walked to the store and a scene ensued during which the loss prevention associate shut herself in her office with the children inside. She testified that she did this out of concern for her safety and the safety of the children.
The children’s father filed a lawsuit that originally contained six causes of action most prominently, a discrimination cause of action and hired renowned Washington civil rights and discrimination attorney James Bible and two of his colleagues to prosecute the case. The plaintiffs’ original demand was over a million dollars; Walmart has recently and very publicly taken multi-million dollar verdicts in similar cases.
The defense of this case began in earnest when our team succeeded on a Motion for Summary Judgment dismissing the discrimination claim, based on the lack of evidence that anything the associate did was racially motivated. Thus, at trial the only remaining claims were negligence, false imprisonment, and outrage. The plaintiffs’ expectations for recovery adjusted accordingly; however, they still asked the jury for $450,000 ($150,000 for the father and each of the minor children).
After hearing the evidence, the jury found in favor of Walmart on the negligence and outrage claims, and elected to award the two minor children only $2,500 each on the false imprisonment claim. The children’s father received nothing.
Congratulations to Eddy and his trial team on this fantastic result, and to all of the involved legal assistants (most significantly Ryan McDade) and other staff who assisted with the case. This is a big win for the client, our firm, and a bright indicator for the future!