An Alabama lady 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 Cellular County jury on Monday dominated in favor of Lesleigh Nurse of Semmes, information retailers reported. Nurse stated in a lawsuit that she was stopped in November 2016 when making an attempt to go away a Walmart with groceries she stated she already paid for, based on AL.com. She stated she used self-checkout however the scanning system froze. Staff did not settle for her rationalization and she or he 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 $48 in groceries she was accused of stealing — 11 gadgets in all, together with Christmas lights, a loaf of bread and Cap’n Crunch cereal, CBS affiliate WKRG reported.
In her go well with in opposition to the retail large, filed by Cellular lawyer Vince Kilborn in 2018, Nurse claimed 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.
Protection attorneys for Walmart stated the follow is authorized. Underneath Alabama legislation, shoplifters may be ordered to reimburse a retailer proprietor for as much as $200. Nevertheless, a few of these individuals might have been falsely accused.
“Why would I pay for something I didn’t do?”
“At first you think, well, I’ll pay it and it will all go away. But then, I’m like, I didn’t do anything wrong — why would I pay for something I didn’t do?” Nurse informed Invoice Riales, who reported on the story for WKRG.
WKRG reported that the trial featured testimony that Walmart and different main retailers routinely use such settlements in states the place legal guidelines enable it, and that Walmart made lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} this fashion in a two-year interval.
Protection attorneys declined to touch upon the decision to WKRG.
In a press release launched Tuesday, a spokesperson for Walmart stated the corporate plans to attraction the ruling.
“We continue to believe our associates acted appropriately. We don’t believe the verdict is supported by the evidence and the damages awarded exceed what is allowed by law. We will be filing post-trial motions,” the assertion learn in half.