tlmorg02
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Two Wal-Mart employees have been arrested in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen, in connection with the death of a customer, local police say.
Reports say Yu Xiaochun was intercepted and badly beaten by five Wal-Mart security guards who suspected her of shoplifting.
She died in hospital three days after the 30 August beating.
Wal-Mart has confirmed the incident and said it was fully co-operating with the relevant authorities.
Horrific scene
An eyewitness said she saw four or five young men beating the woman a few hundred yards away from the Wal-Mart store, and she had even gone over to tell them off. She said the scene was horrific.
The dead woman's husband told the media that he had found a shopping receipt in his wife's pocket after he got to the scene.
The victim was 37 years old and had a young son.
The police say they are doing all they can to prevent any public anger from fomenting into a so-called 'mass incident'.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Arrests over China Wal-Mart death
Here is the real question! What will WalMart do to prevent a repeat of this incident, and will they be liable for this? Thoughts?
Hopefully they are held liable. If this happened in the United States, they certainly would be held liable and could be sued for millions of dollars...but I don't know if Chinese liability laws regarding employee actions are the same as the laws here.
If I was the CEO of Wal-Mart, I would be on the phone with every international branch in the world, demanding that they educate their stores in how to PROPERLY deal with suspected shoplifters.
The question of whether they would be liable here is definitely not as clear-cut as you imply. The fact that they worked for Wal-Mart doesn't automatically make the company liable for all of their actions.
Yes, but these actions were taking while they were working, on Wal-Mart property, because they suspected her of shoplifting from the store. They are definitely liable.
It says they were a few hundred yards away from the store, so they were probably not on store property.Yes, but these actions were taking while they were working, on Wal-Mart property, because they suspected her of shoplifting from the store. They are definitely liable.
It says they were a few hundred yards away from the store, so they were probably not on store property.
I doubt they would have much of a parking lot in China, if any at all. Not enough people in cars.Have you ever been to a Wal-Mart? Their parking lots are more than a few hundred yards. Either way, I see WalMart taking some major blows for this one.
I doubt they would have much of a parking lot in China, if any at all. Not enough people in cars.
Fascinating.China's car sales boom, reshaping a way of life - USATODAY.com
China is the number two consumer of the world's oil supplies behind the U.S.
Fascinating.
It doesn't mean that a Walmart there would have a football-field of a parking lot, though.
The Associated Press: 2 China Wal-Mart workers arrested after deathI cannot find anything related to the story anywhere except the BBC, so I have no way of knowing the actual size. Funny that no U.S. news outlets are reporting on the story.
The question of whether they would be liable here is definitely not as clear-cut as you imply. The fact that they worked for Wal-Mart doesn't automatically make the company liable for all of their actions.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the United States businesses are generally held liable for the actions of their employees as they relate to their job duties. I think it would be very difficult to make the argument that the actions of these security guards was unrelated to their employment as security guards. If they were just random people in Wal-Mart rather than employees, would they have acted the same? Almost certainly not.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Arrests over China Wal-Mart death
Here is the real question! What will WalMart do to prevent a repeat of this incident, and will they be liable for this? Thoughts?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the United States businesses are generally held liable for the actions of their employees as they relate to their job duties. I think it would be very difficult to make the argument that the actions of these security guards was unrelated to their employment as security guards. If they were just random people in Wal-Mart rather than employees, would they have acted the same? Almost certainly not.
But like I said, Chinese law might be entirely different.
how do we know WHAT it's about in china?It's all about agency, which has many factors. Being an employee on company time doesn't make the company liable if the employees exceeded the scope of their agency, including company policy. Don't know if they did or didn't, only that there's more to it than that.
Walmart company policy probably doesn't permit its security guards to beat people to death. Just a thought.
I don't think that necessarily matters, at least in the United States. If it was that simple, then it should be relatively easy for companies to shield themselves from all agency-related lawsuits. All they would need is an employee manual that basically said "Don't do anything stupid" and provided examples of such.
I don't think that necessarily matters, at least in the United States. If it was that simple, then it should be relatively easy for companies to shield themselves from all agency-related lawsuits. All they would need is an employee manual that basically said "Don't do anything stupid" and provided examples of such.
It's not that easy in this country for corporations to shirk their duties to keep their customers safe.
It would appear that this is a very complex case. From the links Coronado provided it appears that the employees took their smocks of before chasing the woman down. Whether this was a done in order to avoid making Wal-Mart liable is another question. Regardless, Wal-Mart is handling this very carefully and aiding law enforcement in everyway in the investigation. I would say from my research of China, Wal-Mart will indeed be shouldered with some of this burden.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Arrests over China Wal-Mart death
Here is the real question! What will WalMart do to prevent a repeat of this incident, and will they be liable for this? Thoughts?
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Arrests over China Wal-Mart death
Here is the real question! What will WalMart do to prevent a repeat of this incident, and will they be liable for this? Thoughts?
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