Jeremy Hoven is the pistol-packing pharmacist who used his handgun to drive two gun-wielding robbers from Walgreen’s during an early-morning holdup in December of 2007. Walgreens fired Hoven for violating their “non-escalation” policy. Hoven retaliated by filing a wrongful termination suit against the company. One of our lawyer pals has been following the case. Our man just emailed:
The hearing over’s. The Judge’s court order just appeared. [Click here for a pdf]. He denied Walgreen’s motion for protective order without prejudice. The company cannot suppress the now infamous video [above] of the early morning robbery . . .
Based upon the different motions and responses that there was a huge pissing contest between the lawyers and Walgreen’s moved for sanctions against Hoven’s counsel for violating professional rules (don’t laugh – lawyers do take an oath to act nice) for holding a news conference to release the videotape, etc. . . .
I suspect the judge told them both to chill out. If Hoven’s lawyers start holding more news conferences—polluting the jury pool—the judge may entertain a new motion for gag/protective order.
I will check again in a week to see if a transcript shows up. This is good news. It keeps Walgreens from trying to silence the truth about Hoven’s defensive gun use. Court order or not, a picture is still worth a thousand words.