Roehm Wal-Mart scandal court filings update

Now that Wal-Mart has provided more details in its court filings (see updates below) in the Roehm Wal-Mart scandal, we are given a further inside look of what may have transpired. Of course, these are Wal-Mart’s court filings and are expected to build its case so readers beware. Here is an excerpt from the NYT article “Wal-Mart Fights Back Over Firings“,

Wal-Mart said in the filing that Ms. Roehm and Mr. Womack had lengthy career discussions with Tony Weisman, then the global growth officer of Draft FCB, and that those discussions had tainted the agency review process. Wal-Mart also asserted that Ms. Roehm shared internal company e-mail messages with Mr. Weisman and Mr. Draft, the chief executive of Draft FCB.

Mr. Womack wrote e-mail messages to Mr. Weisman signing them “Sean and Julie” that discussed the two leaving Wal-Mart to work in a venture with Draft FCB, Wal-Mart said in its filing. In one message cited, he said they would want an equity stake and discussed timing: “What do the next 60-360 days look like for your guys? When will it be too late?” he wrote in August. [K: This looks really bad.]

I have been harsh on Wal-Mart in this scandal partly because the way Roehm and others were fired without any clear justifications with backed up details from Wal-Mart. Now, looks like Wal-Mart has supplied some of those missing justifications and details. Of course, these fragments of emails and details are meant to show Wal-Mart is right. And so far, it seems to be working. Until Ms. Roehm comes up with something solid in response to these court filings, Ms. Roehm’s case looks rather weaker now.

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Update: WSJ Law Blog has an entry including Wal-Mart’s filing (PDF). Nothing beats reading the filing first hand. Worth a look. Warning: At points, it felt like infringing the privacy of the Roehm and others (lots of personal emails), but they are now part of the case in the open. Will see how the case goes.