REMEMBER THE WOMAN that got supposedly trampled at walmart?

rainstorm · #1 Postby **rainstorm** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:23 pm

. EST December 4, 2003

ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A woman reported "trampled" last Friday by Wal-Mart shoppers desperate for $29.87 DVD players has a long history of claiming injuries from Wal-Marts and other businesses where she worked or shopped.

Video

'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims

Patricia Vanlester, 41, was knocked unconscious and, her sister said, "trampled by a herd of elephants" by a stampede of shoppers reaching for DVD players that went on sale at 6 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, according to Orange City police and the sister, Linda Ellzey.

The story was picked up by the Associated Press and carried in newspapers and other media as far away as Australia and China, an example -- some commentators have opined -- of American excess during the holiday shopping season.

An investigation by WKMG-Local 6 reveals Vanlester has filed 16 previous claims of injuries at Wal-Mart stores and other places she has shopped or worked, according to Wal-Mart, court files and state records. Her sister, who accompanied her Friday on the visit to Wal-Mart, has also filed a prior injury claim against Wal-Mart, with Vanlester as her witness, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

Asked whether Vanlester's frequent injury claims might cast doubt on the veracity of her latest allegation, her attorney, David L. Sweat, of Port Orange, said, "No comment." He did stress, though, that Vanlester "has not filed a claim nor have we decided to file one" related to last week's incident.

Wal-Mart is reviewing store videotapes "as we look into the claim," spokeswoman Karen Burk said from the massive retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. "We will investigate this claim as thoroughly as we have the other 10 claims that this customer and her sister have brought against our stores in the past."

Vanlester, who worked at Wal-Marts in Mt. Dora and Orange City in 1996 and 1997, declined comment through her mother, Barbara Rastellini, with whom she owns a home here.

Vanlester spent at least two days in Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach last weekend and today was back in the hospital "having a procedure done," Sweat said. He did not know if the procedure was related to the Wal-Mart incident.

Vanlester has for years complained of head, back, neck, leg or arm pain caused by slipping and falling, objects falling on her and other accidents, according to medical records in a public court file examined by WKMG-Local 6. In fact, her sister says she was wearing a neck brace at the time of last Friday's incident because of injuries from a years-old car accident.

According to state worker's compensation records and court files at the Volusia County courthouse in DeLand, here's some of what Vanlester has claimed over the years under some of her various legal last names: Rastellini, Findley, Crabtree, Platt and Vanlester.

In 1978 and 1982, more than $400 in worker's compensation was paid after she claimed injuries from being struck by a falling object and from slipping and falling while working as a machine operator at a now-defunct manufacturing plant in DeLand.
In 1984, she claimed a back sprain from working at a restaurant in Winter Haven, producing $356 in worker's compensation.
In 1987, she filed an injury claim against Deltona Lanes, a Volusia County bowling alley, after claiming she slipped and fell while bowling there. In a 1993 sworn deposition in another case, Vanlester testified she received a cash settlement from the bowling alley claim, but did not recall the amount.
In 1989, after her car ran off Interstate 4 in Volusia and overturned, she filed a claim against Big T Tire and Wheel Service, of Orange City, claiming the crash was caused by a tire blowout. She testified she received a cash settlement in that case, as well.
In 1991, she claimed to have slipped on a puddle of hand lotion while shopping for a curling iron at an Orange City Walgreen's, causing "permanent injury, disability, disfigurement (and) mental anguish." She filed suit in 1993, but it was thrown out in January 1994 after a 10-minute hearing. Walgreen's argued no one at the store had seen any liquid on the floor, so it could not be liable for failing to clean it up.
In 1995, Vanlester reported slipping and falling on liquid or grease while working in the meat department of a Eustis Publix, resulting in more than $1,200 in worker's compensation.
In 1996, she claimed to have slipped and fallen while working at the layaway desk of a Mt. Dora Wal-Mart, leading to more than $600 in worker's compensation payments.
In 1997, she claimed a back strain while working at the snack bar of an Orange City Wal-Mart that was replaced by the Wal-Mart Superstore where she claims to have been trampled last Friday.

Burk, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said she could not reveal exactly how much Wal-Mart has paid in medical expenses and direct payments to Vanlester as a result of her nine claims, but said the total was in the "thousands."

Nor could she provide details on the injury claim Wal-Mart received from her sister, Ellzey, 48, of Inglis, Fla., except to say Vanlester was listed as a witness to the injury.

Ellzey said in an earlier interview that Wal-Mart should have foreseen the danger of unleashing shoppers on a huge bargain at 6 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. "For several years, every time they do this, people get trampled," she said last week, adding, "I'm panicked. I'm afraid to go into any stores, especially Wal-Mart."

This week, Ellzey has not returned repeated calls seeking comment. But her widely-reported characterization of the incident last Friday as a trampling by a "herd of elephants" has provoked much comment around the world.

Previous Stories:

Lindaloo · #2 Postby **Lindaloo** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:30 pm

That is sad, because she actually had me sympathies. Til now.

rainstorm · #3 Postby **rainstorm** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:42 pm

thats the problem. there are too many crooks out there looking for an easy buck. she should be put in prison and made to pay back every penny.

Lindaloo · #4 Postby **Lindaloo** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:44 pm

I agree with you on this one Helen. She should also go public with an apology to Wal-Mart. What a break for all the Wal-Marts involved in her schemes.

rainstorm · #5 Postby **rainstorm** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:51 pm

there are way too many people like that out there

southerngale · #6 Postby **southerngale** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:22 am

She had my sympathies too! :grr:

People like that ruin the court system for people with legitimate cases. It really ticks me off!!

stormy · #7 Postby **stormy** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:42 am

this woman needs to get a life. ppl like that also make me sick.

AussieMark · #8 Postby **AussieMark** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:00 am

People like that should be sued themselves then they would know how it feels, I don't care for big businesses but the more this goes on the tougher it will become for genuine cases.

I admit when i first read the original acticle i was full of compasion for the women.

Not any more though.

stormraiser · #9 Postby **stormraiser** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:14 am

I have three words to say. Poor white trash. I was poor and white growing up, but we had morals. This lady hasn't any.

rainstorm · #10 Postby **rainstorm** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:44 am

i give credit to this news station for doing their research. all the other news outlets just printed her story at first like she was an angel or something.
greedy people
lazy media
predatory lawyers

azsnowman · #11 Postby **azsnowman** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:55 am

I *had* a neighbor who pulled *hit like this.....she would go into Walmart, Kmart, Safeway, walk down the shampoo ailse, made sure no one was watching, she'd open a bottle of shampoo, spill a little on the floor, then *pretend* to slip and fall. She pulled this BS 4 times UNTIL she got caught, I *think* she's still in Holbrook in the county pokey!

Dennis

rainstorm · #12 Postby **rainstorm** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 7:11 am

awesome!!

Miss Mary · #13 Postby **Miss Mary** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 7:52 am

Stories like this make me so mad! I fell for her story too. I'm usually more cautious in feeling sorry for someone right off the bat like this, but have to admit I bought her story.

I still believe in the good of mankind but it's people like this woman that leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Don't think I'll be so ready to believe someone's claims again after this!

Much the same way I almost immediately suspect the parents in a child's disappearance, ever since I believed Susan Smith's story, along with the rest of the nation. She sure put on a good show and I remember feeling so upset that a mother could do such a horrible thing to her kids. And now I do look at all cases like that much differently, and all b/c of Susan Smith.

A local radio station broadcast a caller's scam alert yesterday. The woman had a lot of traveling to do and was coming off a highway ramp. Nearby was a young woman claiming to need money for a tow truck or something. Next to her was her "broken down" car, hood up, etc. The first woman gave the other in need money. Later in the day, the duped woman saw the scam artist, working another highway ramp. I think she called police but better yet, alerted other listeners not to fall for that stunt.

What ever happened to honest work and making your own way in this world? That's what I was taught to do.

Mary

JCT777 · #14 Postby **JCT777** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 10:22 am

She definitely deserves to spend some time behind bars.

Guest · #15 Postby **Guest** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:00 pm