Stringer v. Wal-Mart Stores

Virginia Stringer and several coworkers (employees) (plaintiffs) were discharged by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) (defendant). The employees’ offense was eating claims candy, which was candy from open or torn bags that had been taken to the store’s claims area to be processed and either discarded or returned to the shelves. Eating claims candy violated Wal-Mart’s honesty policy, which stated that dishonesty in any form would result in immediate termination. The store manager, Anthony Whitaker (defendant), also had a more specific policy that employees were not to eat anything from the claims area until it had been recorded and accounted for, and then only with permission. Paperwork completed by Whitaker indicated that each employee was discharged because of unauthorized removal of company property and violation of company policy. The employees sued Wal-Mart for, among other things, defamation, alleging that Whitaker and an assistant manager, James Carey, made false statements about them. Carey made one of those statements after being asked whether the employees were fired for eating claims candy. Carey replied that there was more to it but that he could not talk about it. This statement was interpreted as an assertion that the employees had stolen items other than claims candy, which was false. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the employees, and the appellate court reversed, finding that the trial court should have directed a verdict in favor of Wal-Mart because there was insufficient evidence to submit the defamation claim to the jury.