Walmart Faces Lawsuit After Employee Dies From COVID-19

Walmart faces a lawsuit from an Illinois family claiming that the retailer’s “willful and wanton misconduct” caused a COVID-19 death.

Wando Evans reportedly worked at Walmart in Evergreen Park, on the outskirts of Chicago, for a decade before falling ill with COVID-19. Two days after being sent home due to his symptoms, Evans allegedly died from complications due to the virus.

A recent lawsuit filed against Walmart by Evans’ estate claims that the company failed to implement safety and cleanliness standards to protect workers despite the severe risk for contracting the coronavirus.

“At all relevant times, defendant owed the decedent a duty to exercise reasonable care in keeping the store in a safe and healthy environment and, in particular, to protect employees, customers and other individuals within the store from contracting COVID-19 when it knew or should have known that individuals at the store were at a very high risk of infection and exposure due to the high volume of individuals present at and circulating throughout the store on a daily basis,” the COVID-19 death lawsuit argues.

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Allegedly, Walmart did not do anything to prevent symptomatic workers from coming to the store until Evans died. The COVID-19 death lawsuit argues that Walmart knew their employees were sick but failed to follow measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Evans’ estate argues that Walmart should have cleaned and sterilized their stores in order to ensure that employees and shoppers were not infected by sick workers.

Additionally, the lawsuit argues that the store should have implemented a policy of social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus. Providing their employees with protective equipment (masks, gloves, antibacterial soap, etc.) is another measure that Walmart allegedly failed to implement.

“The Centers for Disease Control has designated Walmart stores as ‘high-volume retailers,’ making them responsible for taking additional precautions to protect employees and customers from the spread of COVID-19,” the plaintiff attorney said in a press release.

“At a minimum, they were responsible for notifying store workers that a colleague had symptoms consistent with COVID-19, providing their employees personal protective equipment such as masks and latex gloves, implementing social distancing, and sending exposed employees’ home until cleared by medical professionals.”

As a result of these failures, Evans and another worker from the same store contracted the virus and died within a few days of each other, according to the COVID-19 death lawsuit.

The coronavirus death lawsuit accuses Walmart of negligence and willful and wanton misconduct, and seeks damages for wrongful death, survival and the expenses of Evans’ death.

Although COVID-19 is not always a deadly virus, patients who develop complications from the disease are more likely to die. Older individuals and people with pre-existing conditions are also at greater risk of developing life-threatening complications.

Because there is no vaccination or effective treatment available to combat COVID-19, society is relying on preventative measures such as social distancing and disinfecting in order to slow or halt the spread of the virus. Without these measures, at-risk individuals are at an even higher risk.

Evans’ estate argues that Walmart had a duty to take social distancing, sanitizing and other measures to protect their workers, their customers and the public.

By failing to take proactive steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within their store, Walmart was allegedly complicit in the death of two of their workers.

In a statement to Law360, a Walmart spokesman said that the company is “heartbroken” following the death of two of their employees and that they will be “mourning along with their families.”

The company spokesman also denied allegations that the Illinois store failed to protect their workers from COVID-19.

According to Walmart representative Randy Hargrove’s statement, the Evergreen Park store recently “passed a third-party safety and environmental compliance assessment as well as a health department inspection” and even brought on a third-party company to help sanitize and clean the carts, registers, bathrooms, and food areas.

“We take this issue seriously and will respond with the court once we have been served with the complaint,” the Walmart spokesperson said.

Evans’ estate is represented by Tony S. Kalogerakos of Injury Lawyers of Illinois LLC.

The Walmart COVID-19 Death Lawsuit is Evans v. Walmart Inc., et al., Case No. 2020L003938, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

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