Detained for Not Having a Receipt

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Quoting Sunshine79

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I was unlawfully detained and falsely imprisoned. I was not free to leave and had not been shoplifting. They basically held me hostage, illegally

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They forced me back into the store. I did not willingly go.

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You have still not listed any FINANCIAL damages.

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They had no personal observation of me stealing anything

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how do you know that?.

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The store alarm didn't even go off when I went through

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that means nothing

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. They detained me inside of the store instead of outside, which is also illegal.

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sorry, wrong again.

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They searched my bags, which is also illegal because they didn't have probable cause.

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did you act to prevent them or did you allow them to search the bags?

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I did not have to prove anything to them. I had the right to walk away and not be stopped

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yet you didn't.

Sunshine, remember, lawsuits are about MONEY. To receive an award, you have to argue a loss and request an amount of money that will make you whole again. What is that dollar value? And how is that dollar value determined?

Today must be "deny reality" day.

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185373

Coincidence?

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Quoting Sunshine79

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I am not legally obligated to show them a receipt. Showing my receipt is completely optional. They demanded that I show them a receipt and then forced me to go back into the store to clear it with an employee, which is not legal. You can only detain someone if you have probable cause of them shoplifting. Not having a receipt is not probable cause for detaining someone. I did not sign any membership contracts with Walmart agreeing to be stopped and searched at anytime

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I read the whole thread, and I agree with everything you say above. Since you seem to know your rights already, why did you come to this forum instead of just going to an attorney?

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They had no personal observation of me stealing anything

how do you know that?

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If the OP knows that she did not steal anything, then the OP knows that no one could have seen her steal anything.

I've never been to Australia, and I know that. Therefore, no one could have seen me in Australia.

You see how this works?

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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As cdwjava indicates, their version could very well be that they asked to see your receipt and, after you could not produce it, that you voluntarily cooperated with them when they sought to verify your purchase.

What evidence would there be that you were not voluntarily cooperating? (I expect there will be a surveillance video.)

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If there is a surveillance video, the video will show that the guards were blocking the OP.

And no, there doesn't have to be a takedown of the OP, for the OP to prove false imprisonment. Just blocking someone from leaving is enough.

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Quoting cdwjava

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Yet, instead of leaving, you allowed them to search your bags.

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Do you think the OP should have risked getting beaten up?

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Quoting cdwjava

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Once again ... how much are you willing to spend to roll the dice? A civil suit will run you AT LEAST $20,000 for an attorney's retainer.

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How do you know there will not be an attorney who will take the case on contingency?

There may not be much in compensatory damages, but there could be a lot in punitive damages. I'm sure we can find some jurors who are annoyed by security guards demanding receipts. :)

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Quoting John_28

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Do you think the OP should have risked getting beaten up?

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Oh, and that is what would have happened if the OP had just continued out the store?

Regardless of what I believe, the OP would have the burden to show that she was compelled to remain under threat of violence ... this is a pretty high bar.

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How do you know there will not be an attorney who will take the case on contingency?

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Because attorneys don't take huge gambles against big corporations on contingency unless there is great P.R. or the chance for a large payout at the other end. Neither would exist here.

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There may not be much in compensatory damages, but there could be a lot in punitive damages. I'm sure we can find some jurors who are annoyed by security guards demanding receipts.

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They can be annoyed, but, asking for receipts wouldn't be the cause of action nor would it justify damages.

If the OP has thousands of dollars he can act. As it is, he's pretty much left with a complaint to the store. Who knows? He may receive a gift card or some other bonus for his troubles?

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Quoting cdwjava

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A visual observation might be STORE policy, but the law does not make personal observations OR leaving the store a requirement in order to establish probable cause!

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I didn't see much point in getting into the details during the early discussion, because it appears that once the store investigated the purchase they confirmed that all items were in fact purchased. But as the story has unfolded, and the OP has fallen back on various myths, your clarifications are more and more important both to analyzing this situation and in terms of making the thread clear for people who read it in the future. Reasonable cause to detain a shoplifter can arise even without direct observation of an act of theft.

It remains unclear that the store did anything other than ask her to accompany a staff member to their security area while they confirmed the purchase, with it being their perception that the customer was voluntarily cooperating. As has been repeatedly pointed out, they don't need probable cause to ask a customer to (a) show a receipt, (b) let them look through her bags, or (c) wait while they verify purchases. The potential problem for the store arises only if the customer indicates that she wants to leave, or attempts to leave, and she is prevented from doing so.

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Quoting cdwjava

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A civil suit will run you AT LEAST $20,000 for an attorney's retainer. Without actual damages, a Small Claims action is nearly impossible. So, your options here are very limited.

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The OP can consult some lawyers to see if any of them believe they have a viable case. If no lawyers will take the case on contingency, that's a strong indication that they believe the case has little to no value.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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When I could not produce the receipt, they did not have the right to stand in front of me and demand it and search my bags.

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Unless you say, "I'm taking my bags and leaving now," or attempt to do so, they can reasonably interpret your acquiescence as consent.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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They kept saying We need the receipt, we need the receipt, which is totally untrue. I didnot have to show them anything.

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They can ask for anything they choose to ask for. That's an entirely different issue from whether you can leave.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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When I told them that I lost my receipt, by law I am allowed to keep walking.

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But if you choose not to keep walking, choose not to object, and choose to cooperate with their requests, there is no violation of your rights.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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The only time they are allowed to detain me any longer is if they actually saw me steal something and leave the store with it.

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But you can choose to cooperate with them, and can choose to stay until their investigation ends, and if that's what happens there is no violation of your rights. They can't hear your internal dialog -- if by all appearances you are cooperating, then they're not violating your rights no matter what thoughts you may have in your head.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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I went back into the store because I was intimidated and afraid that they would call the cops on me. They did not touch me, but they tell me that I had to clear everything with the store manager before leaving

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So by your own version of events, they would have let you leave (but may have called the police) but you chose to go back into the store with them and to cooperate with their investigation.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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That's what I'm wondering. I honestly have no idea. My 2 year old daughter was with and she drives me crazy half the time. I'm thinking I mistakenly threw it in the garbage when I threw some paper in there on my way out

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The question of what happened to the receipt is relevant only in respect to a possible defense to a claim against the store, that you deliberately engaged in acts that would appear suspicious to LP in the hope of being detained, because you hoped to get some money from the store. Absent that type of defense theory, as the store agrees that you made the purchases, the existence of the receipt is no longer an issue.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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They kept demanding the receipt, basically bullying me, which is also illegal.

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To reiterate, no, they can ask you for anything they choose to ask for. Their words can be angry, aggressive and demanding. Their demand is not what is relevant here -- what is relevant is whether you appeared to cooperate, or actually did cooperate.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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They searched my bags, which is also illegal because they didn't have probable cause.

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Again, if you cooperated or agreed to cooperate then nothing illegal occurred. They can search your bags with your consent.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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They did not physically restrain me but they did intimidate me into going back into the store.

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Sorry, but if the whole of your argument is that you chose to voluntarily return to the store and cooperate with the investigation is that they told you, "If you leave we'll report you to the police," that's not going to support a case. You had the right to keep walking, and nobody stopped you.

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Quoting Sunshine79

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I had the right to walk away and not be stopped

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And you had the right to choose to turn around, choose to go back into the store, and choose to cooperate with the investigation -- which appears to be what you chose, instead of walking away.

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Quoting John_28

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If the OP knows that she did not steal anything, then the OP knows that no one could have seen her steal anything.

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Which is... irrelevant. If the OP chooses to cooperate with LPs, there's no violation of her rights even though nobody saw her steal.

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Quoting John_28

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If there is a surveillance video, the video will show that the guards were blocking the OP.

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From what we've been told, no, it won't. It will show her leaving, then turning around and cooperating with the investigation in response to their words. Their telling her, "If you leave, we'll call the police", is in no way an act of "blocking" her.

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Quoting John_28

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Do you think the OP should have risked getting beaten up?

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Even if the OP had an imagination as wild as yours, and believed against all reason that she would be beaten up if she left the store, it's her words and actions that matter and not her paranoid fantasy life. Had they laid hands on her when she attempted to leave, rather than convincing her to cooperate with a few words, we would be having a different discussion.

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Quoting John_28

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There may not be much in compensatory damages, but there could be a lot in punitive damages.

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You really need to get a basic grounding in reality.

I'm going to chime in on this to make the following observations:

Everything that the usual advice giver's say here in this thread is true. Mr. KnowItAll and CDW are correct. The fact is, OP, they do NOT have to SEE you stealing, and the fact is also that you are unlikely to show any real damages to win some big payout.

Now - I will say this. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have a real problem with this type of behavior. Regardless of the law, pretty much the entire retail industry has agreed on certain standards for loss prevention apprehensions, and there are MANY, MANY national companies out there who will not even entertain the thought of anything that resembles an apprehension even when an EAS alarm goes off, let alone receipt checking and taking actions that look suspiciously like possible detentions even if they are legally NOT.

You are not likely to get some big payout from a jury on this because of a lack of damages - but I sure as hell would make noise about it. This actually happened to me once - a police officer and part time LP employee - when my wife absent mindedly threw our receipt into the garbage and we had two screaming children we were trying to get out of the store. In that incident, the senior citizen receipt checker ran out the door after me screaming "I'M CALLING THE POLICE!!!" After a conversation with the manager on duty and the store manager, she got reassigned to other duties and I got an apology and a $50 gift card for my trouble.

If you really don't feel like letting this go, call a lawyer and shop it around. Some ambulance chaser indeed might want to try to make a case that you were publicly humiliated in your community, etc. and therefore are entitled to a payout. Mind you, there's no chance you'd win in a court room - but ambulance chasers routinely threaten suits and get settlements - even small ones in the hundreds or thousands of dollars - and in a case like this I really wouldn't feel bad for Wal-Mart for paying a few bucks over this stupid, stupid practice that every other retailer in the United States wouldn't even DREAM of allowing or instituting.

DD, It's been years since I have had a Wal-Mart employee ask me for a receipt anywhere. Go to Fry's, Costco, and even some big box home improvement stores, and they will also ask to see receipts. Perhaps some Wal-Marts do, but, it's not been my impression that they are the sole or primary culprit in this thing.

And, as I suggest to people who complain about the practice: If you find it to be an inconvenience, don't shop there. Personally, I don't care. You want to see my receipt, here it is! It takes a few seconds and I'm gone. Chances are that it was not going to be a very productive few seconds anyway.

Yes, you are correct I'd forgotten about the home improvement stores. Yes, Lowe's and Home Depot do also have this sort of routine receipt checking.

I could be wrong here, but I think the difference is that in those other companies the receipt checkers are instructed that if someone doesn't show a receipt, absent some other type of suggestion that they are stealing such as EAS also activating, or some type of observation, that they are to do nothing and say nothing except "Ok, Thank you."

It really seems to be Wal-Mart and Sam's club where they tend to "go the extra mile," threatening police involvement, making quasi-apprehensions (can we just go back into the store to sort this out and go through your bag?) I've personally seen it a few times around here, and there was some lawyer who actually filed either a class action suit, or a suit with several plaintiffs regarding this practice, specifically regarding Wal-Mart/Sam's Club.

When I had my incident, the store manager told me that his checkers were instructed that if someone doesn't show the receipt they are to just let it walk because it's not worth it. He said she would be written up for running outside and threatening to call the police.

Who knows what the actual corporate instructions are - but as a customer it is annoying. Please know that I'm NOT one of those people who will refuse to show on principle, or try to instigate a situation. I show the receipt 99% of the time. But in that 1% where we just lost it and I need to get out of the store, and since I know the law, I know that you're not detaining me absent probable cause? Yeah, in that 1% I'm just walking past them. Especially when they are not a cop, not even a security guard, and are not even allowed by their own companies policies to make apprehensions even IF they SAW someone stealing.