An Alabama girl who says she was falsely arrested for shoplifting at a Walmart after which threatened by the corporate after her case was dismissed has been awarded $2.1 million in damages.
A Cell County jury on Monday dominated in favor of Lesleigh Nurse of Semmes, information retailers reported. Nurse mentioned in a lawsuit that she was stopped in November 2016 when attempting to depart a Walmart with groceries she mentioned she already paid for, based on AL.com. She mentioned she used self-checkout however the scanning system froze. Staff did not settle for her rationalization and she was arrested for shoplifting.
Her case was dismissed a yr later, however then she acquired letters from a Florida legislation agency threatening a civil go well with if she did not pay $200 as a settlement, based on her lawsuit. That was greater than the price of the groceries she was accused of stealing.
Nurse mentioned Walmart instructed the legislation agency to ship the letters and that she wasn’t the one one receiving them.
“The defendants have engaged in a pattern and practice of falsely accusing innocent Alabama citizens of shoplifting and thereafter attempting to collect money from the innocently accused,” the go well with contended.
CBS affiliate WKRG reported that the trial featured testimony that Walmart and different main retailers routinely use such settlements in states the place legal guidelines permit it, and that Walmart made lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} this manner in a two-year interval.
Protection attorneys for Walmart mentioned the observe is authorized in Alabama. A spokesperson informed AL.com that the corporate will likely be submitting motions on this case as a result of it does not “believe the verdict is supported by the evidence and the damages awarded exceed what is allowed by law.”
