Let's say you just wrapped up your shift working at a Safeway grocery store. Suddenly a shoplifter makes a dash for the front door, absconding with a bottle of wine he didn't pay for. Your boss yells at you to chase after him. Dutifully you follow his command and chase after the shoplifter. You succeed, but in the process you injure the anterior cruciate ligament in your left knee.
Does Safeway step up and pay your $23,000 in medical expenses or does it fight you in court for almost five years? Safeway chose to fight.
From the
Willamette Week in Portland:
On Jan. 11, 2000, 28-year-old Abderrahim Najjar was outside the downtown Safeway around 8 pm, after finishing his work shift when a shoplifter ran out with a bottle of wine.
Najjar said his boss, head clerk Wilson Lee, yelled to him to help chase down the thief. Najjar did so but injured his knee when he fell over a ledge in a parking lot a couple blocks from the store.
Since he was off-duty, workers' compensation would not pay for the medical bills to fix the anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee.
Najjar, who had worked at Safeway as a maintenance clerk for five years, asked the store to pay for lost wages, pain and suffering and the medical bills for the two knee surgeries. When Safeway refused, he hired an attorney and sued the grocery chain in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
The first trial ended in a hung jury in May 2002. But Najjar won a $31,069 judgment in a second jury trial on Oct. 23, 2002. Safeway appealed, but on Dec. 28, 2005, the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the verdict for Najjar.
Najjar, who is currently unemployed, doesn't know what he will do with the $15,000 left after his medical bills and his attorney's share. But Najjar, who has lived in Portland for 15 years and has four children, says his knee has still not fully recovered.
Safeway's attorney, Portland lawyer Barry Mount, did not return calls seeking comment.
This story has a happy ending (of sorts), and you can certainly question Najjar's decision to chase after the thief while off-duty, but why would Safeway fight this so vigorously in court? I have to imagine that Safeway's legal fees were much greater than $23,000, considering there were two juries trials and an appeal.
So... other than trying to send a clear "fuck you" to its employees, what was Safeway trying to accomplish here?
The American Factotum