Wally sued in Texas
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Large retailer faces lawsuit: Case claims Wal-Marts leases to optometrists are illegal
By: Lynn Larowe - Texarkana Gazette -Published: 07/22/2007
Wal-Mart is being sued for allegedly violating Texas law in its dealings with optometrists who lease space. Its not reasonable and its illegal, said Mark Burgess of the Texarkana law firm Crisp, Boyd, Poff and Burgess. They should not have any influence over the days and hours these doctors work. Optometrist offices located next door to Wal-Marts are leased from Wal-Mart for a percentage of the doctors monthly earnings. The leases Wal-Mart uses have a section where doctors must fill in the hours they will work each day of the week. One former Wal-Mart optometrist testified in a deposition that he was given the hours and days he had to fill in on his lease by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart will not sign the lease unless the hours and days the doctor will operate are filled in, Burgess said. Burgess says, as a lease holder, Wal-Marts concern should be limited to how much rent they receive per square foot and whether the premises are being adequately maintained. Doctors cannot work for anyone other than themselves or another doctor.
The offices come fully furnished with the necessary equipment in place. The businesses must have separate entrances because Texas is a two door state, where there must be a literal wall of separation, according to the Texas Optometry Act. After an optometrist has been in business next to a Wal-Mart for a couple of years, pressure to increase hours and days worked is exerted with the threat of a lease cancellation for noncompliance, court documents say. Burgess recently negotiated an undisclosed settlement agreement for Texarkana optometrist Brad Aaron in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas. A second suit filed by Burgess and two Corpus Christi lawyers, Buddy Bell and Tony Canales, names Doris Forte and others similarly situated. This lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. Burgess says he hopes the judge presiding in Fortes case will certify the suit as a class action.
Weve chosen the class method because thats the only way we can protect the doctors who are still there, Burgess said. Fortes suit, much like Aarons, alleges Wal-Mart threatens to cancel leases if doctors dont increase the hours and days they work. Texas law explicitly prohibits a money-making operation like Wal-Mart from influencing the hours, times and appointment schedules of optometrists. Texas is the only state with such a law on the books. The law describes its purpose as protection of the publics visual health, by not allowing money to come between a patient and optometrists. Tennessee has a similar statute but it does not give as much latitude for relief from the courts as the Texas Optometry Act does.
According to depositions and other court documents, Wal-Mart allegedly leaves alone the recently recruited optometrist for a couple of years before applying the pressure to work more. Doctors are often recruited straight out of optometry school and lease the turn-key operations from Wal-Mart as a means by which to start a practice in a location where a steady stream of customers is guaranteed. It was not in our best interest to tell doctors this was what would happen over the years, said a former Wal-Mart optical division employee Shawna Ledsome. Doctors who lease from Wal-Mart dont sell glasses and contact lenses. They perform eye exams and write the prescriptions necessary for a patient to get the corrective eye equipment. Wal-Mart has house vision centers where the prescriptions can be filled. Many customers of optometrists next to a Wal-Mart enjoy the convenience of simply walking next door to get their glasses or contacts. Walk-ins to Wal-Mart vision centers are often directed to the optometrists office next door if they have no prescription.
According to court records on the cases, Wal-Mart employees working in the vision department as statewide and regional managers and recruiters are allowing doctors to develop new practices and then applying pressure to increase hours and days in the office, the suit alleges. Some doctors practicing a stones throw from a Wal-Mart are open seven days a week. Most start at five days a week and are gradually and inevitably influenced by Wal-Mart employees who warn of having to start a practice elsewhere while enduring the strain of a change in income. The threat to take away quality of life was substantial, Ledsome said in her deposition. In a deposition of Ledsome by Burgess and a Wal-Mart lawyer, Jim E. Cowles of Dallas, Ledsome says staff knew they were breaking the law, yet continued. Cowles did not return a call to his office Friday.
We just hoped we wouldnt get caught, she said. Ledsome says her boss, Mike Morry, wasnt worried when he was informed a doctor had threatened to sue. He said were stronger than he is, were bigger than he is, hes going to bend to us. Forte and Aaron have both ended their associations with Wal-Mart. Burgess says Fortes suit, if won as a class action, could mean judgments for many Texas Wal-Mart optometrists, even if they arent specifically named in court documents. Fortes suit asks that Wal-Mart be prevented from continuing the practice of pressuring optometrists to work more and more hours by court order. The suit also seeks damages and the recovery of attorneys fees and court costs.
We have found the optometrists across the state are a hard-working group of professionals, Burgess said. If this continues, patients will suffer right along with the doctors. The pressure to see more patients by working more hours on more days of the week may mean doctors spend less time with patients, reducing the quality of care the patients receive, Burgess said. Theyre your eyes, Burgess said. You only have two of them.
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Large retailer faces lawsuit: Case claims Wal-Marts leases to optometrists are illegal
By: Lynn Larowe - Texarkana Gazette -Published: 07/22/2007
Wal-Mart is being sued for allegedly violating Texas law in its dealings with optometrists who lease space. Its not reasonable and its illegal, said Mark Burgess of the Texarkana law firm Crisp, Boyd, Poff and Burgess. They should not have any influence over the days and hours these doctors work. Optometrist offices located next door to Wal-Marts are leased from Wal-Mart for a percentage of the doctors monthly earnings. The leases Wal-Mart uses have a section where doctors must fill in the hours they will work each day of the week. One former Wal-Mart optometrist testified in a deposition that he was given the hours and days he had to fill in on his lease by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart will not sign the lease unless the hours and days the doctor will operate are filled in, Burgess said. Burgess says, as a lease holder, Wal-Marts concern should be limited to how much rent they receive per square foot and whether the premises are being adequately maintained. Doctors cannot work for anyone other than themselves or another doctor.
The offices come fully furnished with the necessary equipment in place. The businesses must have separate entrances because Texas is a two door state, where there must be a literal wall of separation, according to the Texas Optometry Act. After an optometrist has been in business next to a Wal-Mart for a couple of years, pressure to increase hours and days worked is exerted with the threat of a lease cancellation for noncompliance, court documents say. Burgess recently negotiated an undisclosed settlement agreement for Texarkana optometrist Brad Aaron in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas. A second suit filed by Burgess and two Corpus Christi lawyers, Buddy Bell and Tony Canales, names Doris Forte and others similarly situated. This lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. Burgess says he hopes the judge presiding in Fortes case will certify the suit as a class action.
Weve chosen the class method because thats the only way we can protect the doctors who are still there, Burgess said. Fortes suit, much like Aarons, alleges Wal-Mart threatens to cancel leases if doctors dont increase the hours and days they work. Texas law explicitly prohibits a money-making operation like Wal-Mart from influencing the hours, times and appointment schedules of optometrists. Texas is the only state with such a law on the books. The law describes its purpose as protection of the publics visual health, by not allowing money to come between a patient and optometrists. Tennessee has a similar statute but it does not give as much latitude for relief from the courts as the Texas Optometry Act does.
According to depositions and other court documents, Wal-Mart allegedly leaves alone the recently recruited optometrist for a couple of years before applying the pressure to work more. Doctors are often recruited straight out of optometry school and lease the turn-key operations from Wal-Mart as a means by which to start a practice in a location where a steady stream of customers is guaranteed. It was not in our best interest to tell doctors this was what would happen over the years, said a former Wal-Mart optical division employee Shawna Ledsome. Doctors who lease from Wal-Mart dont sell glasses and contact lenses. They perform eye exams and write the prescriptions necessary for a patient to get the corrective eye equipment. Wal-Mart has house vision centers where the prescriptions can be filled. Many customers of optometrists next to a Wal-Mart enjoy the convenience of simply walking next door to get their glasses or contacts. Walk-ins to Wal-Mart vision centers are often directed to the optometrists office next door if they have no prescription.
According to court records on the cases, Wal-Mart employees working in the vision department as statewide and regional managers and recruiters are allowing doctors to develop new practices and then applying pressure to increase hours and days in the office, the suit alleges. Some doctors practicing a stones throw from a Wal-Mart are open seven days a week. Most start at five days a week and are gradually and inevitably influenced by Wal-Mart employees who warn of having to start a practice elsewhere while enduring the strain of a change in income. The threat to take away quality of life was substantial, Ledsome said in her deposition. In a deposition of Ledsome by Burgess and a Wal-Mart lawyer, Jim E. Cowles of Dallas, Ledsome says staff knew they were breaking the law, yet continued. Cowles did not return a call to his office Friday.
We just hoped we wouldnt get caught, she said. Ledsome says her boss, Mike Morry, wasnt worried when he was informed a doctor had threatened to sue. He said were stronger than he is, were bigger than he is, hes going to bend to us. Forte and Aaron have both ended their associations with Wal-Mart. Burgess says Fortes suit, if won as a class action, could mean judgments for many Texas Wal-Mart optometrists, even if they arent specifically named in court documents. Fortes suit asks that Wal-Mart be prevented from continuing the practice of pressuring optometrists to work more and more hours by court order. The suit also seeks damages and the recovery of attorneys fees and court costs.
We have found the optometrists across the state are a hard-working group of professionals, Burgess said. If this continues, patients will suffer right along with the doctors. The pressure to see more patients by working more hours on more days of the week may mean doctors spend less time with patients, reducing the quality of care the patients receive, Burgess said. Theyre your eyes, Burgess said. You only have two of them.
