Someone Falsely Accuses You of Shoplifting

Is.. is that dude stealing a peach?!

Anyway.

I was looking at Reddit for a moment and one that was simple titled 'Advise wanted' caught my eye out of the Spokane subreddit. I have family in Spokane so I check that subreddit every so often.

I thought they were going to look for advise on a restaurant or something in town but it turns out the article goes on to say how she was accused of stealing from a local gas station when she didn't and what she should do.

Naturally, curious minds wanted them to reveal the name of the gas station so they would know what not gas station to visit (which they did reveal) but that got me thinking about what we were told when I worked in retail.

I'm no lawyer and don't have a clue how it all works, but I was told that if someone shoplifted, I could customer service the hell out of them to hopefully let them know we're watching (also why you greet everyone when they walk in) and hopefully they'll put whatever back. And, in all fairness, it's not stealing until they leave the store without paying for it. Sure, there may be intent but it's not stolen until you're gone. And even that that point we can't physically stop them. We can write down their license plate and let the police deal with the situation and, more often than not, the police would catch them, return the stolen items (sometimes from multiple stores), and they would be arrested.

Accusing someone of stealing is a very serious accusation, especially in front of your peers and strangers.

The Whitney Firm: Attorneys at Law say you can sue.

Victims of shoplifting accusations are often able to sue the business for false imprisonment claims.
False imprisonment occurs when a person is detained and prevented from leaving without legal justification.

If it happens and you feel like you should for your own reasons and to, maybe, hopefully, make it so it won't happen again to others, definitely get legal council.

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Source: Someone Falsely Accuses You of Shoplifting — Can You Sue the Store?

Filed Under: sue, laws