Kmart has entered into an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit concerning the accessibility of its stores for individuals who use wheelchairs or scooters for mobility.
Under the settlement agreement, Kmart will make alterations to its stores nationwide to increase their accessibility for individuals who use wheelchairs or scooters and pay $13 million ($8 million in cash and $5 million in gift cards).
If you use a wheelchair or scooter for mobility and and shopped at a Kmart store between May 6, 2003 and July 7, 2006 in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon or Texas, you may be eligible to receive damages payment from this settlement.
This is an incomplete summary of the settlement. To view the complete summary, call toll-free 888366-5352 (TTY 888-252-4449) or visit www.KmartAccessSettlement.com.
I wish somebody would get on Kmart about the quality of wheelchairs they provide for customers to use.
On about April 29, 2006 my wife and I visited the Kmart store on Bethel Road
in Columbus and borrowed a wheelchair from them for my wife to use while shopping. They only have two “push types” and both are in bad repair. At one time they were new with baskets and brakes. On the day in question I found that both baskets and brakes had been removed. We used one of them anyway and,
as she was transferring from chair to automobile she gave a little extra push and the wheelchair went backward over my foot which I was using to block it and dropped her to the ground. She has been almost continuously in the hospital or convalescent home since. Three crushed vertabrae.