Every year there are people who are needlessly injured due to accidents involving holiday festivities. And every year the public is urged to use caution while preparing for festivities during the hectic holiday season. Accidents run the gamut from bumps and scrapes while running errands or shopping; to traffic accidents while racing to the airport or while driving on a crowded road with other drivers who may have illegal blood alcohol levels; to falls, cuts, electrical shocks and burns from putting up holiday decorations. However, there are some accidents that no one can foresee or prepare to avoid. An example of this type of accident occurred recently and involved a security guard who was trampled to death by customers at a Walmart in New York over this past thanksgiving holiday. Tragically, Jdimytai Damour, age 34, who was hired by a temporary agency to serve as a security guard for Walmart, died of asphyxiation when a crowd of customers, eager to purchase discounted items, crushed him as they busted through the doors for the start of the day after Thanksgiving sale.
Ironically, this poor young man needed protection from the public he was hired to protect. Why wasn’t anyone around to protect him? This is the question that this young man’s family will be asking in part of a wrongful death case they have filed against Walmart. Attorneys for the plaintiff’s family accuse Walmart of failing to provide a safe workplace and creating an atmosphere of chaos, both of which the plaintiff’s attorneys believe Walmart had an awareness, as they had erected barricades at the front entrance due to past experience with problems involving holiday crowds. According an article by the Associated Press, the lawsuit claims that Walmart “engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to attract a large crowd and create an atmosphere of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent”. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we agree with the plaintiff’s attorneys regarding Walmart’s reckless and negligent conduct. As in any wrongful death case, even if there was no direct intention by Walmart to harm, Walmart can be held liable in part, if not entirely, for the death of the victim. A wrongful death suit probably can’t take away the grief the victim’s family members feel, but we hope, that by proving Walmart is in some way accountable for the death of this young man, the lawsuit can ease some of family’s confusion and suffering.