Walmart Refuses To Pay For Tracy Morgan Accident, Says He Didn’t Practice ‘Reasonable Conduct’


You may remember that back in June, Tracy Morgan was riding in a limousine with three fellow comedians and two other passengers on the New Jersey Turnpike when a Walmart truck slammed into them. His longtime friend, James McNair, died in the crash; Morgan and four others were gravely injured. It turned out that the truck driver, Kevin Roper, had fallen asleep at the wheel after being awake for 24 hours; he’s facing charges of death by auto and assault by auto. In July, Morgan sued Walmart, claiming that the retail giant knew or should have known that Roper hadn’t had nearly enough rest. Given the circumstances, you’d think Walmart would have spared itself some terrible publicity and settled for what would have amounted to a rounding error in its sales figures, right?

Well, you thought wrong. On Monday, Walmart filed its formal response to Morgan’s suit. It contends that Morgan shouldn’t get a penny because neither he nor anyone else in the limo were wearing seat belts. Walmart contends that Morgan and two of his co-plaintiffs, personal assistant Jeffrey Millea and fellow comedian Ardie Fuqua, are responsible for their injuries because they failed to “exercise ordinary care” and “reasonable conduct” by buckling up. Had they done so, Walmart contends that Morgan, Millea and Fuqua wouldn’t have been injured nearly as severely. According to The Hollywood Reporter–which was the first to learn about Walmart’s response–Walmart claims it can’t respond to some of Morgan’s claims because there is an active National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the accident. Despite this, Walmart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan told The (Newark) Star-Ledger that Walmart is willing to sit down with Morgan and the other plaintiffs to settle the dispute.

Tracy Morgan in a 2008 performance. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Tracy Morgan in a 2008 performance. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Morgan was dumbfounded by Walmart’s assertions. In a statement, he said, “I can’t believe Walmart is blaming me for an accident they caused.”

His attorney, Benedict Morelli, was even more blunt, telling the New York Daily News that Walmart’s claims were “callous” and disingenuous.” According to Morelli, the limo was at “a dead stop” due to construction on the turnpike when Roper’s truck plowed into it at about 65 miles per hour. He also claimed that the police report ruled out seat belts or lack thereof as a factor in the crash. Morelli was also upset that Walmart refused to admit even the most rudimentary details about the crash, such as whether Roper even worked for them.

If the police report did indeed rule out seat belt use as a contributing cause of the accident, to my non-lawyer’s mind that’s the end of the ball game. But even without that to consider, Walmart apparently expects us to ignore that Roper and his truck had no business being on the road. Roper is facing criminal charges because New Jersey law makes it illegal to drive when you’ve been awake for 24 hours or more. According to the original complaint, before beginning his shift Roper drove 11 hours from his home in Jonesboro, Georgia to a Walmart distribution center in Smyrna, Delaware–even though there were several other distribution centers closer to Roper, including at least nine in Georgia alone. At the time of the crash, Roper had been on the clock for 13.5 hours, and had been behind the wheel for 9.5 of those hours–meaning he could have only been on the clock for only another half-hour. Borelli and his legal team found evidence that Walmart allows its drivers to be on the road for amounts of time that defy both reason and federal regulations.

If I’m reading this right, Walmart would have you believe that even if a truck driver falls asleep at the wheel after being up for at least 25 hours (by the most conservative estimate) and plows into your car going at full speed, if you’re not wearing a seat belt, you’re out of luck. If I were a juror and I heard that argument, I’d feel insulted. And if I were the attorney for the Millea family, I’d be fighting hard to keep my composure. After all, one of the plaintiffs is Millea’s wife, Krista, who contends she suffered “loss of consortium,” or loss of some of the benefits of her relationship with Jeffrey, due to the accident. At the time of the crash, Krista was eight months pregnant.


Morelli says that while Morgan is recovering well, he needs a wheelchair to get around and is months away from being able to fully walk again. He also said that Morgan is a long way from getting his brain to work as well as it did before the accident. At best, Morelli said, it’s very questionable whether Morgan will be able to get back on stage or on camera again. I’m rooting for Morgan to get well soon–and take Walmart to the cleaners. After all, it looks like Walmart is not only willing to throw its own workers’ welfare to the winds, but the safety of the driving public as well.

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Darrell Lucus.jpg Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC on Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.