HAHA! Not even Rattlesnakes can keep them away.

**no1_vern** · February 17th, 2009, 01:55 PM

CORRECTION:The man in the story wasnt bit three separate times. SORRY!

Its just that, even after being bit, he continues to buy from Walmart

Ah, the irresistable pull of bargains! A man in Florida is suing Walmart because he was bitten by a pygmy rattler while shopping in the garden center in 2008. His is the third such attack in a Walmart in Florida since 2006, and he's claiming the retailer should have taken better steps to prevent rattler bites after the first two attacks. Our favorite detail, though, is that he won't stop going to Walmart, because "their prices are too good to shop elsewhere."

-SNIP-

Oh, and yes it's venomous and feisty, but "its bite produces pain and swelling which usually subsides in a few days," and no deaths have been recorded-

**Epidemic** · February 17th, 2009, 03:26 PM

Is it reasonable to expect that the garden center be free from snakes or is this par for the course down south.

Are other similarly equipped stores free from pigmy rattlers or would the be like saying make sure you do not have any bugs in your giant super center.

**Epidemic** · February 17th, 2009, 03:39 PM

this is even a little strange. of the thousands and thousands of people who enter this store how many have been tagged, let alone tagged 3 times ?

I smell a ratt snake here.

**MD1032** · February 17th, 2009, 03:41 PM

Read carefully, children:

...His is the third such attack in a Walmart in Florida since 2006...

**Epidemic** · February 17th, 2009, 03:51 PM

His is the third such attack in a Walmart in Florida since 2006

Wow imagine the bad luck. to be bitten 3 times by a relatively harmless snake and sue over it. I am not too sure that somethin funny is going on round here

**ShyguyXPC** · February 17th, 2009, 04:27 PM

Third such attack, as in this is not the guys third time being bit, but the third person to be bitten since 2006...

I can understand his feelings in this, getting bitten by a snake in a store where it "shouldn't of been" but on the other hand, its hard to prevent everything. especially down in Florida where snakes like that are EVERYWHERE, along with gators, and all sorts of other critters...

if thats the case that he can sue over that, then it opens the flood gates for other lawsuits like old people getting bombed on by pesky gulls in the parking lots, have had that happen more than once at our store.

or when a curious/adventurous sparrow finds its way into the store & gets stuck, doing strafing runs on people in the store, or in the same instance bats...

etc etc...

how about the time we found a black widow spider in a box of grapes we put on the sales floor? seriously sometimes shit happens at stores like this, and these people should be grateful for being alive in all honesty...

not defending walmart, but chances are some money greedy lawyer will pick this up & go all out on walmart as a result.

hopefully a competent judge will be on the case, & be able to determine if this was a "freak accident" or something that was preventable on Walmart's part due to negligence of some sort, aside from opening another store in Florida... LOL

in any case this is why retailers have big time insurance to cover such damages, like an old person slipping on ice out on the sidewalk or something.

**no1_vern** · February 17th, 2009, 04:35 PM

SHY has it right. SINCE you guy didnt click the link to the fox news article that I posted I will post a short quote from it here:

A 42-year-old man bitten by a snake in a Pembroke Pines Wal-Mart garden center is suing the company for negligence.

Jay Richitelli says he is the third Floridian in three years to be attacked in a Wal-Mart by a pygmy rattler. Two others were bitten in 2006 at the retailer's stores in Central Florida.

So: It wasnt him the first two times, AND it wasnt even the same store. Just the same brand name - Walmart. Still, if this has happened twice before, the least Walmart could have done was to try to prevent more of them from getting into their stores**.

**The fact that the store is invading the snakes home territory has nothing to do with it.

**osprey4** · February 17th, 2009, 04:45 PM

I think the most obvious lesson is being missed.

GET OUT OF FLORIDA, DUDE!!!

**Epidemic** · February 17th, 2009, 04:48 PM

the irresistable pull of bargains! A man in Florida is suing Walmart because he was bitten by a pygmy rattler while shopping in the garden center in 2008. His is the third such attack in a Walmart in Florida since 2006, and he's claiming the retailer should have taken better steps to prevent rattler bites after the first two attacks. Our favorite detail, though, is that he won't stop going to Walmart, because "their prices are too good to shop elsewhere."

actually it is funny I read it "this is his" third attack when it actually reads his is the third such attack.

None the less should a store be responsible for critters that are running rampant in the region. Can one reasonably expect that they will search every pallet, every box on a daily basis. is there a reasonable way to keep them from sneaking in from the surrounding area. I do not know the answers to these questions. the suckers blend in and are hard to find sometimes... they can sneak through small holes and doors are left open on garden centers during the day.

a quick search of the web shows that home depot lowes and wally world are all subject to sneaky snakes beating up customers on occasion in various states.

Personally I hope this goes no where? I think this comes under the heading of shit happens.

**Bizkitkid2001** · February 17th, 2009, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by no1_vern

SHY has it right. SINCE you guy didnt click the link to the fox news article that I posted I will post a short quote from it here:

Looks like he was just going off of what YOU said in YOUR very first post.

Originally Posted by no1_vern

Enter, through the Walmart store doors, a man who, even after being bitten 3 times by rattlesnakes, continues to buy from Walmart

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · February 17th, 2009, 05:16 PM

ya I was in Georgia for about 3 hours when I was almost eaten by a alligator, I guess I forgot to sue the state of Georgia for having alligators that do the natural thing that alligators do, EAT!!!

so just to help those folks in Florida who might be having trouble figuring things out here is a clue,

THERE'S RATTLE SNAKES IN FLORIDA MORONS!!!

**ShyguyXPC** · February 17th, 2009, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Bizkitkid2001

Looks like he was just going off of what YOU said in YOUR very first post.

me, or Epi?

I didn't even click the Fox News link, just the original one to the Consumerist site in the thread LOL.

**no1_vern** · February 17th, 2009, 05:38 PM

I REALLY have got to proofread my posts better than that! I knew after reading the article a second time I needed to rewrite it, but I screwed up

Sorry for the misinformation.

**uethello** · February 17th, 2009, 10:12 PM

There's everything in Florida. When I moved from WV to NC, I thought the longer warm season made for some oversized insects. I was wrong. At that point, I had never been to Florida. Perhaps the store was keeping the poisonous snakes to kill off some of the Gigantic Flying Cockroaches From Hell that Florida has.