Roddey v. Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P.

Retail store Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P. (Wal-Mart) (defendant) had a policy that, to avoid injuries, store personnel should let a shoplifting suspect escape rather than pursue the suspect with a moving vehicle or off store property. Alice Hancock drove Donna Beckham to Wal-Mart and waited in her car while Beckham went inside. Wal-Mart had hired a third-party company (defendant) to provide parking-lot security, and Derrick Jones (defendant) was providing patrol services that evening. Wal-Mart employees notified Jones that Beckham was attempting to shoplift pants. When stopped near the exit, Beckham left the pants and exited rapidly. In the parking lot, Jones shouted to Beckham, and she ran. Hancock drove toward Beckham at speed. Beckham jumped in while the car was still moving, telling Hancock to get out of there. Hancock reversed rapidly, hit a median, and exited the lot at high speed. Jones followed Hancock in his patrol vehicle. A Wal-Mart employee radioed Jones to get Hancock’s license-tag number. Jones followed Hancock, staying close to her bumper and flashing his lights. Hancock ran a stop sign, ran a red light, and nearly caused collisions. Jones continued following Hancock on to a highway. Hancock crashed and died at the scene. Through Travis Roddey, Hancock’s estate (plaintiff) sued Wal-Mart, Jones, and the security company for negligently causing Hancock’s death. Wal-Mart moved for a directed verdict, arguing that, as a matter of law, it could not be liable for negligence because: (1) there was no evidence it had breached its duty of care to Hancock, (2) it could not have proximately caused Hancock’s death because the chase was unforeseeable, and (3) Hancock was more than 50 percent responsible for her death. The trial court granted the motion and entered judgment for Wal-Mart. The claims against Jones and the security company went to trial. The jury determined that Hancock was 65 percent responsible for her death and Jones and his company were 35 percent responsible. The estate appealed only the judgment for Wal-Mart.