Business Notes LITIGATION

Sam Walton is still the richest man in America, but his fortune may be dented a bit because he missed a court deadline. A state judge in Fort Worth slapped his Wal-Mart Stores chain with an $11.6 million fine because Walton, 70, was 17 days late in delivering a deposition. The chairman's testimony was subpoenaed for a trial in which a customer demanded $6 million after slipping in a Wal-Mart in Sulphur Springs, Texas. The tardiness penalty dwarfed the $35,658.30 the jury awarded Andrew Carrizales, a Houston mechanic, for his injuries. The company will appeal Walton's fine.