Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wal mart customer bitten by rattlesnake in store

I always said I wanted to move to Lewiston. This is the first reason I've had to rethink that...... maybe I just won't shop at the Wal-Mart. (Didn't even realize they had rattlers in Idaho so once again, I learned something via the fire).

Makes a great final exam question for law school torts class.

The customer was an invitee.
The store probably was not negligent.
A rattlesnake in a garden center is ultra-hazardous.
How do you assess the actual damages.
Do you award punitive damages.
Strict liability?

(Didn't even realize they had rattlers in Idaho so once again, I learned something via the fire). [/quote]
Oh yeah! We used to practice rock climbing down in the breaks near Clarkston. Had to watch where you put your hand. One time tried to land a raft on the rocks on the Clearwater. Decided to find a different place after we got a real close look at what was already in possession of the rocks.

Just glad it wasn't a child that was bitten.
That would have been far worse for all involved...

Lots of rattlers in areas of Idaho, some at surprising elevations. For example way up the Selway river in heavy forest are some monster (for Idaho) rattlers and lots of them.
The homes near rock slides and draws in Lewiston have buzz tails.
My bird hunting buddy kills about 5 every year on his patio. He wife was bitten by one 3 falls ago while picking leaves out of a flower bed.

i ran into some outside Butte, MT at well over a mile up.....dont really think there are many places in the western US below the tree line where its impossible to run across rattlers.....the closer to the treeline the more uncommon they are likely to be but would say its still possible to run across them...

I would say it's not unresonable, to expect not to get bitten by a rattlesnake while shopping at WalMart. Especially since others were found later. Sounds like a lawsuit to me. fwiw Butch

If they new or should have know about the snakes it's a good case. Otherwise I'm a little dubious, but if I were WMT, I'd settle.

I would think the store has some obligation to keep poisonous snakes off the premises. And had I been bitten in the store, absent ridiculous negligence on my part, I would expect the store to cover the medical bills. I am pretty sure my medical insurance would expect the store to pick up the tab as well.

But I do have a real problem with "undeserved enrichment".

on the other hand, its spring and snakes are just starting to move for the most part in Montana, guessing its the same in Idaho.....snakes may have only been around a short time and not been seen by any employees....it was out in the garden section and not in the mens bathroom after all....

The latest report is that it happened in a Walmart on the WA side of the border, in Clarkston, WA, not Lewiston, ID. Idaho snakes are more polite.

LEWISTON (AP) �A man
says he reached down to
pick up a stick lying in the
gardening aisle of a Wal-
mart in eastern Washing-
ton state, only to discover
that it was a rattlesnake
that then bit his hand.
Mica Craig says he was
shopping in the outdoor
garden department of a
Clarkston store when he
was bitten Saturday. The
47-year-old man says it
latched onto his hand and
that he screamed, shook
loose the snake and
stomped it to death.
The Lewiston Tribune
reports a bystander drove
Craig to an emergency
room in nearby Lewiston.
Craig says he was treated
with six bags of anti-ven-
om and was told that his
hand could be permanent-
ly disfigured.
He says doctors expect
him to remain hospitalized
until Tuesday.

What a cynical bunch we have around here. Can you really seriously believe someone intentionally allowed himself to get bitten by a rattlesnake for a potential lawsuit? There is not enough cash for me to try that one.

Well in today's article, it got better.
Now the reporter is saying, that the bitee told him more snakes were found.
Wal-Mart says no more snakes were found.
The treating doctor says, they sent the bitee home after 2 1/2 hours in care with no redness or swelling whatsoever. He came back later all swollen.
Wal-Mart is viewing tape to see what took place.
Stay tuned.

I believe the guy might have a good case.

He's a lucky dude.
They had anti-venom on hand.

Now?
He can cash in and move to Montana.
And be a dental Floss Tycoon!

Just him and the pigmy pony....

The plot thickens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ialhaxhr7iA

movin' to Montana...

That is what I love about the wetside of the state as poisonous critters don't live on this side of the state.

I guess I've been lucky as I've lived on the dry side for years, grew up around Spokane, lived in the Columbia Basin and have hunted, fished, camped and trucked all over Eastern Washington and have never seen or heard a rattler once.

HUH? for real? The Spokane part I can understand but anywhere east or south is prime.

some ppl are like that, never see one......i love snakes and have been chasing them since i could walk......but my luck with finding them is often so-so, however the best way ive found to locate rattlers is to follow one of my uncles around cause if there is a rattler within 100 miles he is gonna wind up accidentally stepping on it

but you have common sencesnakebite deaths are so rare in the US anymore combined with "reality TV" and you get idiots coming up with a brilliant idea.....ive seen some minor bites passed off as no big deal on some of the shows more than likely cause after all the drama it was actually a dry bite....