Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Overlawyered

November 3rd, 2005 at 12:30 am

Mysterious Wal-Mart suit

» by Ted Frank

One can understand why Wal-Mart is upset that a former executive, Tom Coughlin, allegedly swiped a half-million dollars, and wants to stop paying him in addition to referring the matter to federal prosecutors. But one doesn’t understand why Wal-Mart, in an effort to recover a fairly small sum, is arguing to the court that it should disregard the mutual waiver and release that Coughlin signed with Wal-Mart when he left the job. Surely the corporation would be better off on the whole with a legal rule that strictly enforces releases than one that judges the validity of a release on a case-by-case basis. (AP, Nov. 2).


Disclosures: As of the date of this post, I own Wal-Mart stock worth between $50,001 to $100,000.

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