After initially owning up to the car accident that claimed the life of comedian Jimmy Mack and severely injured Tracy Morgan and others, Walmart is flipping the script and playing hardball in court.
They’re blaming the 30 Rock star for his own injuries due to him failing to wear a seat belt at the time of the crash.
On Monday, Walmart delivered its answer in a New Jersey federal court to 30 Rock actor Tracy Morgan’s lawsuit arising from a six-car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. Among nine affirmative defenses, Walmart says that injuries “were caused, in whole or in part, by plaintiffs’ failure to properly wear an appropriate available seatbelt restraint device.”
Morgan was among several people injured who are now suing Walmart for negligence.
In particular, their lawsuit filed in July questions whether Walmart driver Kevin Roper was fatigued at the time of the crash. According to the suit, Roper had commuted 700 miles from his home in Jonesboro, Ga., to a Walmart facility in Smyrna, Del., before beginning his shift.
In its filed answer, Walmart wouldn’t go into particulars about exactly what happened. The corporate giant says it has been designated by the National Transportation Safety Board as a party in an investigation of the accident. Walmart cites a part of transportation law as limiting the dissemination of investigative information.
“Accordingly, absent entry of a Protective Order and adequate protections by the Court to maintain the confidential nature of Wal-Mart’s responses as required by the NTSB on-going investigation, Wal-Mart is unable to admit or deny” various allegations in the lawsuit.
“By failing to exercise ordinary care in making use of available seatbelts, upon information and belief, plaintiffs acted unreasonably and in disregard of plaintiffs’ own best interests,” states Walmart’s answer.
The news is especially cold for Morgan, seeing that his road to recovery has been a bumpy one to say the least.
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Photos: Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com
