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My question involves criminal law for the state of: TX
The daugther of one of my employees was apprehended shoplifting at Macy's. The merchendise never left the store, and is now being charged double the retail price by the civil recovery department of Macy's. Is this legal? I believe it's an extortion on behalf of Macy's. My employee is extremely worried about this. Any Ideas???
It's perfectly legal. And the civil demand should be paid immediately.
If not paid - the store can sue...and tack on their legal fees for the lawsuit also, easily tripling the amount.
The charges of a civil demand are set by state laws - usually a formula of X times the total retail value of the goods stolen, or a minimum amount. The items are totaled at full retail value, not any sales or clearance prices.
The amounts....someone has to pay for the stores security teams, those surveillance cameras are not free, and it costs money to slap all those ink tags, security stickers, etc., on items.
As it is, the average family pays over $400 in price increases to off-set "shrink" caused by theft.
If the police were not called and the Civil Demand is the only thing this person is getting - she got off very easy. But the store does have 1 year to file Criminal Charges.