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Sunday, March 30, 2008
Media bullies gang up on Wal-Mart
Poor Wal-Mart. They’re being flogged once again by a gaggle of superficial news media who portray the big box boys as blood-suckers.Superficially, they look like horrid, insensitive bad guys. They’ve demanded that a brain-injured gold-star mother who received money in a settlement over her accident reimburse them for medical bills Wal-Mart insurance has paid.
I say “superficial” because if one looks deeper, the “bad guy” here is the attorney who represented the injured woman.
It’s called subrogation, and is not at all unusual. When an insurance company pays out money for a covered claim, that insurance company has the right to recover their expenses if the beneficiary receives money from another source for the same expenses. The woman’s attorney was negligent in not including subrogation costs in the settlement or jury finding.
But that seems to be a moot point since so many people love hating Wal-Mart.
What will it take for Wal-Mart to dig out of its PR hole? Once you’re branded a bad guy in the court of public opinion, it's a constant battle to change your image.
Do you have a crisis management plan to avoid falling into the hole with Wal-Mart?
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