Better late than never in bringing the following story to you: According to the Associated Press, Wal-Mart was hit with a $2.16 million verdict in July of 1998 for violating federal law than bans the sale of handgun bullets to anyone under 21. The Supreme Court in Florida found that Wal-Mart was negligent in illegally selling the handgun ammunition to 2 teenagers, who proceeded to use the .32 caliber bullets in an auto parts store robbery and murder. The 2 teens involved are now on death row in Florida. Sandra Coker, whose husband was murdered in the 1991 robbery at the Penascola auto parts store, sued Wal-Mart over her husband’s death. The Florida appeals court that heard the case said the Congress passed the ammo law on the assumption that selling bullets to minors would produce dangerous outcomes. Wal-Mart appealed the court’s ruling to the Supreme Court, but lost.
Sandra Coker’s husband is murdered by a teenager using bullets illegally sold by Wal-Mart. It takes Coker 7 years of court wrangling to receive justice and compensation for her husband’s death. 7 years of fighting in the courts to prevail over Wal-Mart. Instead of receiving any sympathy or financial help from Wal-Mart, the widow had to shoot down the world’s biggest retailer through the courts. After the verdict was reached, the Associated Press reported that “Wal-Mart attorneys could not be reached for comment.”
