Shopper settles injury suit with Wal-Mart

A Brooklyn woman who said she was seriously injured in the 2008 shoppers stampede at the Valley Stream Walmart that killed a store employee has settled a federal civil suit against the company.

The attorney for Doris Walker, who had asked for $10 million in damages, and a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed a settlement was reached.

But neither Walker's attorney, Richard Weiss, of Brooklyn, nor Wal-Mart media relations director, Greg Rossiter, would discuss the settlement amount. A nondisclosure agreement is common in such a settlement.

Walker, who said she had gone to the store at 2:30 a.m. to get toys and a laptop computer for her foster children, said her left knee was badly injured as she clung to a door while thousands of shippers mobbed the store's narrow vestibule on so-called Black Friday, a traditional shoppers' bargain day after Thanksgiving.

Store employee Jdimytai Damour was asphyxiated when shoppers knocked him down and trampled him.

The trial of Walker's civil suit, in which she claimed she was injured because of Wal-Mart's negligence, was supposed to be scheduled to begin shortly.

Walker, then a manager at a White Castle, had two surgeries, Weiss has said. "She's going to have problems with her knee for the rest of her life -- and she has a job where she's on her feet for most of the day," Weiss has said.

In April, Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez said in anticipation of the trial, "We know Ms. Walker sustained injuries during the tragic incidents at our Valley Stream store. We certainly don't want our customers to have this kind of experience."

To avoid criminal prosecution by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Wal-Mart agreed to set up a $400,000 fund to pay victims, donate $1.5 million to community programs and establish a safety plan devised by outside experts. Wal-Mart was also fined $7,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.