Walmart Being Sued Over House Fire

[French Castanut]

Not sure if we should laugh, cry or be upset reading this totally ridiculous story.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... .htm#85149

Next what.. suing Mcdonalds for selling french fry causing death chocking on them because they weren't smashed potatoes and no warning saying it's dangerous to eat hard stuff when your plastic teeth are outside of your mouth?

And finally, why not sue BC Hydro for providing the electricity to your home, which in fact, caused the fire. Becuase no electricity, no heater, no fire eh.

[TimmyE]

I'm wondering why he didn't put a claim in on his own home insurance because that's the first guys I would phone. But it does seem kind of weird that the fire took place in early 2011 and now he's getting ready to take on Walmart, like two years later??

[French Castanut]

I'm wondering why he didn't put a claim in on his own home insurance because that's the first guys I would phone. But it does seem kind of weird that the fire took place in early 2011 and now he's getting ready to take on Walmart, like two years later??

That'S what I thought too. The insurance should have taken care of this.
I feel like there's an eel beneath a rock.

[Graphite]

http://www.castanet.net/news/North-Okan ... es-lawsuit

So what is happening then?

Would this constitute shoddy reporting?

[grammafreddy]

http://www.castanet.net/news/North-Okan ... es-lawsuit

Coldstream man denies lawsuit
by Ragnar Haagen - Story: 85165
Dec 29, 2012 / 10:59 am

A former mayor and current Coldstream councilor Gyula Kiss says the media has made a mistake, and that he is not suing Walmart.

“There is nothing much I can tell you, because I did not file a lawsuit,” says Kiss.

“This first thing that I heard about it is off the news.”

The Canadian Press was first to report that Kiss had filed a lawsuit against Walmart, claiming a heater purchased from the retail giant caused a fire that burned down his home -- other media outlets later picked up the story.

Kiss says that as far as he knows, the facts being reported are completely incorrect.

“I didn’t file a lawsuit and I didn’t even know there was a lawsuit filed until I saw it on TV,” he says.

“The only thing I can think is that the insurance company filed a suit, but they neglected to tell me about it and I’ve been hit from behind because I didn’t know anything about it.”

The councilor says he has not received any paperwork, signed any documents or even hired a lawyer.

“Apparently I have been quoted as saying this and that in a news article and I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know about it.”

Kiss goes on to say that if he had any evidence the heater purchased at Wal-Mart did cause the fire that burned down his home in Jan. 2011, he would have filed a lawsuit long ago.

“If someone filed a suit on behalf of me, they neglected to tell me,” he says.

“Someone found the document that was filed and my name is on it, but I didn’t know about it.”

The lawsuit alleges Walmart and the heater's maker Fusion Canada had a duty to warn of any defects and to ensure the heater was reasonably inspected before its sale.

Kiss says he is unsure what he will do next and has not yet been able to contact his insurance company.

[AllthatFunk]

Wow GF. Good on ya for doing the homework. I was all set to say that itwas likely the insurance company that was doing the sueing. This is pretty standard practice for most insurance companies. They try to cover their own butts so that the expense doesn't come out of their purse. When it comes right down to it, we all end up paying for these things in the end.....at least tthose of us who actually buy insurance and pay taxes in the first place.

[Just an opinion]

Somebody's jerking someone's chain. I just went to BC's Court Service Online and downloaded a copy of the Statement of Claim filed my Mr. Kiss's lawyer, one Michael D. Silva, on Dec 21, 2012 in the Vancouver registry of the BC Supreme Court. IT lists Mr Kiss as the Plaintiff and the defendants as Fusion, Inc. amd Walmart. It cost me $12, but I'll send you a PDF for free if you like, it's Christmas. Send me a PM. Unless somebody knows how to use Dropbox to create a link.

There is no mention of an insurance copy filing the claim under subrogatory rights.

A Notice to File Suit was filed the day before including a John Doe as codefendant, and the lawyer of record as Christopher Schuld of the same law firm as Mr Silva listed above.

[French Castanut]

Somebody's jerking someone's chain. I just went to BC's Court Service Online and downloaded a copy of the Statement of Claim filed my Mr. Kiss's lawyer, one Michael D. Silva, on Dec 21, 2012 in the Vancouver registry of the BC Supreme Court. It cost me $12, but I'll send you a PDF for free if you like, it's Christmas. Send me a PM. Unless somebody knows how to use Dropbox to create a link.

There is no mention of an insurance copy filing the claim under subrogatory rights.

So ... what you say is that mr Kiss himself filed the lawsuit?

[Just an opinion]

Edited because I don'y know sh#t.

[French Castanut]

I wonder why it's registered in Vancouver and not Vernon or Kelowna...

The last one shows Mr Kiss against Fusion (the heater maker) and mr John Doe. Who's mr John Doe?

[Just an opinion]

I know jack squat about this matter.

[Captain Awesome]

I wonder why it's registered in Vancouver and not Vernon or Kelowna...

Cause Supreme Court is in Vancouver.

[French Castanut]

Yeah would be great to know what's the whole story. I'm sure they would love the pdf you found. If you're interested, you can send it to them here:
http://www.castanet.net/contactus/news-tips.php

I'm not sure if they do news story on holidays though...

[Just an opinion]

Captain Awesome there are Supreme Court Registries in Vernon, Kelowna, Kamloops...Walmart was on record as having an attorney in Vancouver so to cut down on expenses etc they filed in Vancouver.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cgpgwki8rxgjy ... ALMART.pdf

[Hassel99]

When an insurance company subrogates (sues the negligent party to recover from a previous claim) they do so in the name of the insured on their policy. It wont say "soandso insurance co on behalf of Mr XYZ"

I read one of these stories once a year where someone states "who i am shocked that person sue their family member" when in fact its just the insurance companies trying to recover from a payout

Here is a crazy subrogation story from the DUN DUN DUN...subrogation and recovery blog !

http://www.subrogationrecoverylawblog.c ... interests/


PS they probably sued in Vancouver because that is where the insurance company has its claims office