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Pfeifer v. United States, U.S. Federal District Court for the District of New Mexico, CV 0201368.
Bud and Alice Ramaekers were killed when their car was hit head on by a drunk, on-the-job federal government worker. After they were devastated by the news of the fatal collision, the Ramaekers' 9 children and 28 grandchildren then learned that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had helped this alcoholic employee keep his driver's license and gave him a government vehicle to drive, despite a history of 9 drunk driving arrests. The Ramaekers' family filed suit and took their case through a public trial in order to make citizens aware that the government was enabling drunk drivers. The family won their case and the BIA has now changed its motor vehicle policy to make highways safer. Not only did this family's courage to fight the federal government result in safer government policies, but it helped spread the word to private and public employers alike that employers cannot turn a blind eye to employees who have a drinking problem.
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Lawrence v. Hollywood Video Corp. and NM Dept. of Corrections, NM 2 d Jud. Dist. Ct., CV 96-04039.
When George and Pauline went to the video store where their grandson worked to pick him up after his late night shift, they had no idea that the store had been the target of crime and threats for months prior, or that the staff had been asking the "110 company for security guards to protect them. On this particular night, two felons on community release from the Department of Corrections had decided to take advantage of the large amounts of cash on hand at the end of the day. The felons stole the cash, killed three clerks inside, abducted the McDougalls from the parking lot and killed them in the East Mountains. The case against Hollywood Video Corp. settled and the firm was successful in defeating motions to dismiss filed by the state corrections department. Eventually, the State also settled with the McDougall family. |
Randi McGinn 
