Julie Roehm Sues Wal-Mart
Julie Roehm filed a lawsuit last month against Wal-Mart Stores for breach of contract and fraud stemming from her dismissal from Wal-Mart in October, PROMO has learned.
Roehm is seeking $1.53 million in actual damages, including $325,000 in severance pay and stock options worth $500,000, according to court documents.
In the suit, Roehm said Wal-Mart dismissed her for not “fulfilling the expectations of an officer of the company,” but gave no specific examples. The suit alleges that Wal-Mart told Roehm she would receive no more compensation after Dec. 4, 2006. Roehm was fired in October after only 10 months as senior vice president-communications.
The suit also seeks to recover items that Roehm left in her Bentonville, AR office, specifically: her Media Exchange files; materials from presentations that she worked on before joining Wal-Mart and copies of her Outlook files, including personal folders and her Contacts list, according to court documents.
In its response filed with the court, Wal-Mart denied all charges, saying the allegations “set forth vague and broad legal propositions that require no response.” The response also said Roehm is ineligible for executive-incentive stock options because she was not with the company through its fiscal year, ended Jan. 31, 2007. The stock options were to be vested over three to five years, as long as Roehm stayed with Wal-Mart, according to court documents.
Roehm filed the civil suit on Dec. 15, 2006 in Oakland County, MI. It was moved to federal jurisdiction on Jan. 10. Wal-Mart filed its response on Jan. 18. No court date has been set.
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