Element removed == DK Software refuses video embed from news source
So the woman in this case was accused of stealing groceries valued at less than $200 from a Wal-Mart. Turns out she had paid for the groceries. The self-check scanner had frozen.
(BTDT, and always, always, always!!! you have to ask the store personnel to come help when this happens. Otherwise the store thinks you swiped something without paying, and they can track you via your credit card. So if you’re dealing with MalWart, use cash if you can and go through a staffed checkout.)
Lesleigh Nurse, of Semmes, AL, was arrested for shoplifting in 2016 after one of these scanners froze. Charges were dropped a year later because she could prove that she had paid for the groceries in her cart.
Her case was dismissed a year later, but then she received letters from a Florida law firm threatening a civil suit if she didn’t pay $200 as a settlement, according to her lawsuit. That was more than the cost of the groceries she was accused of stealing.
Nurse’s lawsuit, filed in 2018, exposed a practice of using a little-known state law to collect money from people accused of shoplifting from the retailer. However, some of those people may have been falsely accused.
“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 suit contended.
Turns out in some states the law lets merchants sue, even if there’s been no wrongdoing.
Semmes sued. On Monday, a jury awarded her $2.1 million. Wal-Mart attorneys argued that this practice is legal under Alabama law.
Maybe it’s time that Alabama’s citizens — and the rest of us — had words with our lawmakers to ensure this kind of crookery isn’t “legal” under the law in our states.
www.dailymail.co.uk/…
The court filing also alleged that Walmart set collection goals with its go-to law firms and noted that many retailers do not have to repay the money collected if cases are dropped or dismissed.
In 2016, Walmart reportedly set out to fetch $6 million from supposed shoplifters. According to company filings, that same year the retailer documented $482 billion in sales.
(snip)
Nurse told The New York Times that Walmart refused to show her the surveillance video of her supposedly stealing.
Wal-Mart attorneys said they will appeal.