Walmart has asked a Cook County court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the family of a store worker who died from COVID-19, as the retailer says Illinois law doesn’t allow the family to convert what should be a workers compensation claim into a wrongful death lawsuit.
Late last month, Walmart filed its motion to dismiss in Cook County Circuit Court, seeking a quick end to the legal action filed in April by the family of Wando Evans.
Evans had worked at Walmart’s store in suburban Evergreen Park. According to the lawsuit, Evans, 51, was one of two workers at the store who died of COVID-19 in the early weeks of the pandemic’s arrival in Illinois.
According to the lawsuit, Evans’ family asserted Walmart should pay because Evans’ supervisors allegedly ignored his complaints of illness, did not supply workers with sufficient personal protective equipment and did not notify workers that any of their co-workers “had symptoms consistent with COVID-19.”
Further, they accused Walmart of not following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA.) They said the company put its workers, including Evans, at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
In response, Walmart has not yet disputed those allegations.
Rather, the company said the lawsuit should be tossed because the legal dispute has been misclassified Illinois law. They noted Evans’ family claims Evans contracted the virus through the course of his employment. Therefore, the retailer said the case should be brought through Illinois’ worker’s compensation system instead.
Walmart noted Evans’ family cannot claim Walmart intended to harm Evans. Therefore, the infection and death should be classified as “accidental.” They said, in other prior cases, which set legal precedent, judges have determined plaintiffs wishing to skip the worker’s comp claims system and take their cases to court must show employers “intended to kill” or “created a strong probability of death;” engaged in fraud; or created hazardous conditions through “gross misconduct.”
“Here, Plaintiff alleges Walmart knew or should have known there was a high risk of exposure to COVID-19 at its store, and failed to exercise reasonable care to protect Mr. Evans from contracting it,” Walmart wrote in its motion. “Such allegations on their face fall short…”
Evans’ family is represented in the action by attorney Tony S. Kalogerakos, of the Injury Lawyers of Illinois LLC firm, of Lincolnwood.
Walmart is represented by attorneys with the firm of O’Hagan Meyer LLC, of Chicago.