Also worth mentioning Kroger just lost a multi million dollar lawsuit in Florida after one of their delivery trucks hit a cyclist. I wonder if this has anything to do with it as well.
Here is the story
https://www.facebook.com/100064532630592/posts/pfbid0DYoPXet...
Looking at the details, I could say Kroger shouldn't have hired her but I'd rather say that if she was dangerous enough to not hire as a driver then her license shouldn't have been reinstated in the first place. (Though that's if "couldn’t recall if her driver’s license was suspended just months before he hired her" means it actually was suspended, and Bike Law isn't doing some trickery with wording.)
Either way good they paid out.
For the shutdown, I do think it's a coincidence. They're shutting down facilities in multiple states and that lawsuit isn't even a tenth of a percent of the relevant costs.