“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 lawsuit stated.
A woman who was falsely accused of shoplifting $48 worth of groceries from an Alabama Walmart store wins a $2.1 million judgment against the country’s biggest retailer, according to published reports.
On Monday, Lesleigh Nurse of Seemes, AL. was unanimously awarded the money in punitive damages by Mobile County Circuit Court jury, CBS News reported.
The incident took place in Nov. 2016. Nurse said she was at a self-checkout line at the Semmes Walmart, with her husband and three children. She said the scanning device malfunctioned, and that when she asked for help from a Walmart associate they did not believe her explanation, AL.com reported.
As she attempted to exit Walmart with the groceries, Nurse said she had already paid for, she was stopped, CBS News reported.
“I remember going in that little room and thinking this will be resolved, this is an accident, this isn’t on purpose,” Nurse told WKRG News.
The 11 items she was accused of shoplifting included, Christmas lights, a loaf of bread, and Cap’n Crunch cereal, the news outlet reported.
After Nurse was arrested, and her mugshot taken, the criminal charge had been dropped when no one from Walmart showed up to court, WRKG reported.
But, according to Nurse she told the news outlet "the damage to her reputation had already been done,” and that due to the criminal charge her ability to make a living suffered.
After the criminal case was dismissed, Nurse alleged in a separate civil lawsuit that she filed against Walmart that she was intimidated by the retailer. According to her civil lawsuit, Nurse began receiving letters from a Florida law firm threatening a civil suit if she didn’t pay a $200 settlement fee, the news outlet reported.
According to her lawsuit, in Dec. 2016, she began receiving letters from a Florida law firm threatening to file a civil suit against her if she did not pay them $200, which was more than the cost of groceries she was accused of stealing, AL.com reported.
Nurse alleged that Walmart instructed the law firm to send the letters.
“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 lawsuit stated.
“Walmart funds its asset protection department by intimidating those falsely accused of shoplifting out of making a claim against Walmart out of fear of protracted litigation against an almost limitlessly funded corporate giant.”
According to an expert’s testimony, Walmart and other major retailers routinely used the practice of settlements where laws allow it. The testimony stated that Walmart made hundreds of millions of dollars from the practice in a two-year period, WKRG reported.
During the trial, Walmart failed to produce the video that would have been recorded when Nurse went through the self-checkout area, according to CBS News. That video would have been proof of Nurse’s alleged shoplifting, according to the news outlet. “It would have shown the truth, and that they didn’t want the truth to be shown,” Nurse said.
She added: “I hope it makes a difference. I don’t want anybody else to have to go through this again.”
Defense attorneys for Walmart contend that the practice is legal under Alabama law, according to reports.
A company spokesperson for Walmart said that the retailer plans to file motions to dismiss the verdict, as it doesn’t “believe the verdict is supported by the evidence and the damages awarded exceeded what is allowed by law.”
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