A Portland jury awarded $4.4 million to Michael Mangum, 59, who says a local Walmart employee discriminated against him. Magnum’s lawyer, Greg Kafoury, refers to himself as “a leader in Oregon’s progressive community.”
In 2020, Mangum was asked to leave a Portland, Oregon Walmart by Joe Williams, a theft prevention worker. When he refused, Williams called the police.
According to the lawsuit, Mangum claims he was “disrespected and embarrassed” all because he was “shopping while Black.” Multnomah County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene but took no action. The next day, the sheriff’s department allegedly complained to the management of Walmart about Williams calling them excessively and exaggerating the severity of the situation.
Williams was fired by Walmart months later for allegedly mishandling Walmart’s property.
For this so-called “unconscionable failure of responsibility by the world’s largest corporation,” Walmart has been ordered to pay Mangum $4.4 million. Of course, a huge chunk of any money collected will go to his lawyer Kafoury.
Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove stated, “We do not tolerate discrimination. We believe the verdict is excessive and is not supported by the evidence.” He says that Mangum interfered when Walmart employees caught other people shoplifting. The police were called after repeated attempts to ask Mangum to leave. Hargrove says that Walmart is looking at its potential options to fight the judgment.
