Tornado family sues Walmart.

[newt2]

I'm not sure on the merits of the case, but I do have to question how a company can force someone to stay in their store against their will. That alone would seem grounds for a lawsuit.

 

[happygirl]

I can only image if he had left. The family would have probably sued as well. Saying, why would they let him go out in such danger conditions.

 

[bookgirl]

As I do not have any experience with tornadoes and live in the NE where it's not quite so common, can someone explain to me why they lock the doors? I understand that might help them from flying open but does it make that much of a difference during a tornado when, I'm sure, those locks are useless, particulary when the roof can be ripped off the building? And wouldn't that be putting others who might be in the parking lot in danger if they are trying to seek shelter in the store?

Because if you leave the doors unlocked and move everyone away from the front someone will come in and steal. Sad, but true.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

my best friend and I were 17 and at a mall when a tornado was comming. It was one of those open air malls and they directed us all into a concrete hallway. They told us that we wernt allowed to leave because it wasnt safe. they locked us all in. there were 35 people in a tiny hallway. All the doors to the stores were locked and so was the door to the hallway we were stuck in. They also had a mall security gaurd posted at each end. Im guessing its just common to lock people in.

 

[RitaE]

I'm not all that familiar with WalMarts but is there some sort of gate or barrier that might have been lowered in order to negate flying glass that would have prevented leaving at least through the front entrance?

I know I pulled into a garden supply store in the midst of a tornado warning once and the employees there moved everybody out of the front of the store and away from the plate glass windows for obvious reasons. I'm pretty sure I wasn't locked in, although I had no interest in going back outside into that wind and black rain anyway.

 

[Hannathy]

If he had walked across the parking lot two minutes prior and driven home he would not have faced any danger. Instead, he died inside the building.

You have absolutely no way of knowing that! He could have driven right into the tornado.

Once the sirens go off that means a tornado HAS been spotted, there is a tornado.

 

[SandrA9810]

Tornadoes and earthquakes are still in the unknown for man. Sure they've been studied time and time again, but no one has broken the code on it. No one knows what makes a storm produce the tornado, and where the heck it's going once it's on the ground.

Even if Walmart's policy was to lock the doors, if he followed the instructions given, then he was probably okay with it.
If he talked to his wife at 5pm, with a 7 minute drive to the store. He would've been there around 5:10, well before the tornado even formed. At 5:17 he was probably somewhere in the back corner of the store where sporting goods is.
From 5:17 to 5:24, seven minutes after the tornado siren went off, that does not give him enough time to get out of the store, to his car, and drive out of the parking lot.

Every one knows there's no "quick" trip to Walmart. He should've just stayed home period with the weather the way it was.

Here's a nice article that was written after the tornado hit. With no judgement about this potential law suit.
http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2011/...-death-survival-and-the-best-soda-i-ever-had/

 

[Funfire240]

As I do not have any experience with tornadoes and live in the NE where it's not quite so common, can someone explain to me why they lock the doors? I understand that might help them from flying open but does it make that much of a difference during a tornado when, I'm sure, those locks are useless, particulary when the roof can be ripped off the building? And wouldn't that be putting others who might be in the parking lot in danger if they are trying to seek shelter in the store?

I live in NW Ohio and a couple of years ago we were in a Target store when a tornado warning went off - they announced that no one could leave and they weren't letting anyone out of the store until they received the all clear. We didn't attempt to leave because we had my nephew with us who was less than a year at the time. We were never directed to any shelter - only told that further instruction would be given if found necessary. We ended up camping out in the pillow aisle, thinking it would be the best to protect the little guy if something did happen. Luckily no tornados his that day.

 

[Acklander]

I can only image if he had left. The family would have probably sued as well. Saying, why would they let him go out in such danger conditions.

But in this situation, there would be no case since he was an adult making his own decision. If they threw him out of the store - yes, but his choosing to leave? No. All it would have been was another sad story of someone killed in a tornado driving in his car. Occasionally, people die while traveling in their car. I've never seen anyone try to pin point where they were earlier to blame for the accident. Where the problem comes up is their not allowing him to leave, if the family can prove that, that's where you're going to find the liability.

 

[Hannathy]

When I worked at the Hospital, our instructions for a tornado warning was to get everyone into the patients bathrooms that could be moved, turn beds away from the windows and close the drapes if they couldn't be taken out of bed and to NOT let visitors leave.
We did have to do this a couple times and I never had a visitor object!

We as nurses could not physically restrain them (which is why I asked if they had done that) but we were to tell them not to leave.

At the nursing home we were to take everyone who was a walker or able to be put in a wheelchair to the basement and to take visitors with us.

It is common practice to tell people to stay where they are, you do not want to be outside in a tornado. And you do not have more than a few minutes when that siren goes off sometimes, if you have that, or you may have longer if there is more than 1 or it changes direction.

 

[bearloch]

thats strange and may be a indiv store case cause I was in a walmart once and the sirens went off I hung around till y hubby called with the all clear but we were not " locked in" I dont even remember them saying anything except we could not take carts outside!

 

[Becky2005]

my best friend and I were 17 and at a mall when a tornado was comming. It was one of those open air malls and they directed us all into a concrete hallway. They told us that we wernt allowed to leave because it wasnt safe. they locked us all in. there were 35 people in a tiny hallway. All the doors to the stores were locked and so was the door to the hallway we were stuck in. They also had a mall security gaurd posted at each end. Im guessing its just common to lock people in.

I pretty much thought it was too. I am 90% sure most stores DO lock doors. I know of one person that died there in our company because he unlocked the doors to let a dad & daughter IN...then directed them to the shelter area...at that time is when everything hit. All the other employees were safe but the person unlocking the door & the dad of the girl did not survive (not quite sure how the girl did as I don't think she made it to the shelter area either)....but obviously the doors were locked at that point.

I was at work one time when a tornado went through here & it wasn't even retail and we were not allowed to leave. Another time when the sirens went off, my DD & I were at an ice show rehearsal...all of us were told to go into the locker rooms & we weren't allowed to leave until the all clear sounded.

I know one year on the first day of school at dismissal time the sirens went off & the busses basically all went back to the school and the kids couldn't leave until the all clear.

So, I just assumed "everyone stay put until the all clear" was standard no matter where you are.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

You have absolutely no way of knowing that! He could have driven right into the tornado.

Once the sirens go off that means a tornado HAS been spotted, there is a tornado.

That is not necessarily the case and is certainly not always the case. I cannot speak for Joplin, but I know in my part of Iowa, at least, the sirens go off:

"As defined by the National Weather Service a warning is issued when a hazardous weather or hydrologic event is occurring, is imminent, or has a very high probability of occurring. A warning is used for conditions posing a threat to life or property."

They set them off as long in advance of a possible weather event as possible, as waiting until an actual tornado is spotted means it's too late for those in the path. Back in the day, they'd have to see the tornado to set them off because radar couldn't pick them up, but modern doppler radars can predict them well before they drop and so they give far more notice when they can.

Furthermore, in Iowa the sirens go off not only for tornadoes, but for any high-risk wind event, including high speed straight line winds.

Regardless of when and why the sirens go off, I also know that, at our local mall and local Target (I cannot speak for local Walmarts nor the stores in Joplin), having been inside both during tornado warnings, they will and do physically lock guests inside the store. Whether I could force my way out is a moot point, as that is not the time to debate the writ of habeas corpus with a store manager. My local mall and Target, however, provide legitimate storm shelters into which they herd the customers; it sounds like this Walmart did not do so, and therefore may be liable for wrongful death if they created an unsafe environment for their customers and, concomitantly, denied them the ability to leave, be it through implication or force. I don't know for sure if that's the case, but that is why we have courts; to find facts and, as necessary, assign fault.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

To me it depends on where their shelter was.

The worst place to be is in a large, open space with tons of debris flying around (like the main open space in a Wal-Mart).

For the record, I got this information from emergency management when we were choosing a shelter for our day care center. We were told absolutely NOT the dining hall, even though it was 3/4 below grade and had a full story above it. He directed us to the bathrooms which were above grade, but small, windowless and had concrete block walls. He said tornado statistics show that large, open rooms with plenty of debris are very dangerous places to take shelter.

That's our hiding place at work.

 

[Hannathy]

where I live they do not set the sirens off unless a tornado has been spotted by a spotter. If they set the sirens off for a watch or high winds they would be going off constantly.

Enough people don't pay attention to them as it is, if they set them off for anything less than an actual tornado no one would.

 

[SandrA9810]

They set them off as long in advance of a possible weather event as possible, as waiting until an actual tornado is spotted means it's too late for those in the path. Back in the day, they'd have to see the tornado to set them off because radar couldn't pick them up, but modern doppler radars can predict them well before they drop and so they give far more notice when they can.

No one can truly predict which storms will drop tornadoes, but there are signs of which ones can drop a tornado. Some cities have a heavy finger when it comes to sounding the sirens that many people think they're crying wolf. People that live in the region think they know it all and don't heed the warning.

If there was already an advisory out for severe weather, the guy should've parked his butt in his house and taken shelter if it was such a better place to be. Walmart didn't put his life in jeopardy, he put his own life in jeopardy.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/story/2012-04-02/new-tornado-warnings/53946346/1

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

No one can truly predict which storms will drop tornadoes, but there are signs of which ones can drop a tornado. Some cities have a heavy finger when it comes to sounding the sirens that many people think they're crying wolf. People that live in the region think they know it all and don't heed the warning.

If there was already an advisory out for severe weather, the guy should've parked his butt in his house and taken shelter if it was such a better place to be. Walmart didn't put his life in jeopardy, he put his own life in jeopardy.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/story/2012-04-02/new-tornado-warnings/53946346/1

That is not how the law works, however, and therefore we have the courts, and not a bunch of nattering naybobs on the Internet, to adjudicate liability and fault. The family will argue that Walmart was liable as a result of not providing safe coverage, not anticipating dangers, etc., and we'll have to see what comes out in court to determine the what truly happened.

As to those who don't take tornado sirens seriously unless a tornado is spotted, well, we call that a pouring a little chlorine in the gene pool where I come from. Tornadoes can be predicted well in advance but can actually drop out of the sky unbelievably quickly. To say that you won't take coverage until somebody actually sees a tornado is shockingly ill advised, in my opinion, given how quickly one can drop and how long it can take people to get to safety. To each their own, I suppose, but I'd err on the side of common sense rather than avoiding a minor hassle.

 

[nchulka]

where I live they do not set the sirens off unless a tornado has been spotted by a spotter. If they set the sirens off for a watch or high winds they would be going off constantly.

Enough people don't pay attention to them as it is, if they set them off for anything less than an actual tornado no one would.

I live in the mid-west and we have sirens go off several times a year during severe weather and we have never had a tornado hit our area. I no longer pay attention to them. They come on, last 5-10 minutes and go back off. I've often wondered how I would really know if there was an actual tornado coming!

 

[smitch425]

I live in the mid-west and we have sirens go off several times a year during severe weather and we have never had a tornado hit our area. I no longer pay attention to them. They come on, last 5-10 minutes and go back off. I've often wondered how I would really know if there was an actual tornado coming!

In that situation, it is ALWAYS better to assume that there is one. Think of it this way, would you rather be alive to say "False alarm" or be dead and unable to say "I wish I would have protected myself."

Seems like an easy choice to me.

 

[Mokat76]

I live in the mid-west and we have sirens go off several times a year during severe weather and we have never had a tornado hit our area. I no longer pay attention to them. They come on, last 5-10 minutes and go back off. I've often wondered how I would really know if there was an actual tornado coming!

And that is what is known as natural selection. You are warned; you ignore it because it's inconvenient; this time it is a tornado and you die. They warn you because they cannot know exactly where the tornado will drop nor where it will go. Some stay on the ground for miles while others skip around. You will never really know until it's most likely too late to do anything. My brother used to ignore warnings until the tornado went through his backyard. He was lucky that time but several neighbors died or were gravely injured. He never ignored the siren again.