Let me be blunt: Marvin Ellison, the CEO of the North Carolina company that owns the company that owns the West Hills store, made a decision in March 2020 to kill and/or sicken potentially thousands of Californians by welcoming maskless customers to shop at the store, maintain no social distancing from other customers, and in my case, spit in my face. This Lowe's store was the ONLY retail store of any kind that I am aware did not require masks/face coverings to enter after mid-March 2020, when every health authority in the world knew mask and social distancing were the most effective means of preventing COVID-19 transmission. Ellison didn't care, and Lowe's stores across the country continued to welcome mask refusers, cater to them, and even aid them when they attacked other customers. It happened to a woman in April 2020 at a Lowe's in Fairfax, Virginia, who has testified under penalty of perjury that not only were customers without face coverings welcomed and and allowed to roam freely, a maskless man approached within a couple of feet of her and called her vile, misogynistic epithets right in front of a manager that looked on and did nothing. She even saw Lowe's employees not wearing masks over their noses and mouths. She also testified the manager told her it was "corporate policy," which means it came from Marvin Ellison, that employees should do nothing to ensure customers wore face coverings in their stores if they did not want to.
The attack on me occurred on June 28, 2020, almost 4 months into the Pandemic and AFTER an Executive Order by Gov. Newsom required face coverings in all public places.
Lowe's employee Alex witnessed the maskless man spit repeatedly in my face and refused even to call a manager. Employee Oscar Garcia also refused to call the police, and watched as the attacker continued to wander around the store getting in the faces of other customers for several minutes, then left of his own volition. They are accessories to the crime of battery.
The manager on duty, who would not not even come to talk to me was Levi Renderos.
There is no question in my mind that Lowe's injured many, many Californians and Americans with their willful disregard for the health of its customers, who are "invitees" entitled to have Lowe's provide reasonably safe conditions at their store. What Lowe's did is no different than allowing customers to carry explosives or loaded firearms into their stores. If you visited a Lowe's store last year and became sick within a couple of weeks thereafter, or you contracted COVID after someone you know visited a Lowe's store during that period, I urge you to speak to an attorney. I am an attorney, and while fortunately I did not contract COVID from the attack -- thanks to my secure mask -- I have a lawsuit against Lowe's, Renderos, Garcia and manager Jeff Storm pending in the Chatsworth Courthouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Lowe's is represented by the law firm of Tharpe & Howell in Sherman Oaks, who specialize in defending corporations that illegally cheat their workers and injure the public. read more