Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and two insurers are battling in multiple courtrooms over portions of the legal settlement arising from the 2014 crash between one of the retailer’s trucks and a van carrying comedy star Tracy Morgan and three colleagues.
Wal-Mart earlier this year settled with Morgan and two other passengers as well as the family of James McNair, who died in the June 2014 crash on the New Jersey Turnpike. The accident occurred when Wal-Mart driver Kevin Roper, who was nearing the end of his shift and his destination, struck the van.
The amount of Morgan’s settlement, reached in May, wasn’t disclosed.
However, the court action didn’t end there.
Wal-Mart and two insurers, Liberty Insurance Underwriters Inc. and Ohio Casualty Insurance Co., have clashed in recent weeks in U.S. District Court in New Jersey; Superior Court in Middlesex County, New Jersey; and the Circuit Court of Benton County, Arkansas, where the retailer is based.
“Wal-Mart took full responsibility for the tragic accident and did what was right to ensure the well-being of those who were impacted,” Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove told Transport Topics, noting that the case was no different than an individual whose insurer failed to reimburse them for a loss.
