The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.), Andrew Dys column
By Andrew Dys, The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The shooter,
Six years later, Lord will finally get her day in court, too.
The state
Her lawsuit alleged that the business should have had a security guard on-site after weeks of mayhem in 2007 and 2008 that terrified
"This is one of the happiest days of my life," said Lord, 48. "I have waited so long for this. He shot me and he took away everything I had."
Lord was initially paralyzed after Watts shot her first in the head, then in the back as he tried to rob the store. Lord endured years of physical therapy and rehabilitation.
She still has one disfigured arm and often needs a walker. She had to learn how to walk and talk again.
Before the shooting, Lord was a hospice home health care worker with three kids and 11 grandchildren. Now unable to work, she gets a small disability payment but is forced to live in subsidized housing in her hometown of
Even the one
Lord's lawsuit, filed five years ago, was dismissed by a judge who ruled that Watts' previous crimes had been at other places nowhere near Cash on the Spot, so the business had no duty to protect Lord from criminal activity that had not yet happened.
Before the dismissal, court transcripts show that the store's management had told employees to be vigilant that there was "a madman on the loose" after extensive coverage by The Herald about the string of then-unsolved crimes.
The dismissal was upheld by the state
Before Watts was caught after shooting Lord, he had terrorized
But at the time Lord was shot, Watts was still unidentified and on the loose.
"We are grateful that finally,
Cash on the Spot was owned and operated by
The insurance giant that covered D&J successfully severed itself from the lawsuit after filing a federal lawsuit of its own -- against Lord -- claiming that the felony crime voided any responsibility to pay Lord an insurance settlement.
Lord's case should be decided by a jury because expert testimony showed "there was a foreseeable risk" at the store, Justice
D&J could ask the
"I can't imagine taking sweet
Watts, 26 -- who has had a criminal record since middle school and had only been released from a juvenile prison weeks before he started his crime spree -- is serving eight life sentences after pleading guilty but mentally ill after he was convicted in his first trial.
He continues to file appeals from prison, where he has been caught several times with drugs and other contraband, authorities say.
One of the other victims in Watts' rampage, former
Powers and Lord became friends during Watts' criminal trials.
"I am happy to hear that Ida finally got some good news," Powers said of the
Lord said maybe now she will get a chance at justice.
"I never gave up," she said. "I'm still not giving up."
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