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They're Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Demand Penalties [View all]
ProveItHat Retweeted:Disgusting behavior by Walmart -- a legal letter-mill preying on low-income people unlikely to have the funds/wherewithal to hire a lawyer (to show there's no proof they shoplifted): "They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Demand Penalties" https://nyti.ms/2OFYQHS
Link to tweet
They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Demand Penalties
Walmart and other companies are using aggressive legal tactics to get the money back, demanding payments even when people haven’t been convicted of wrongdoing.
By Michael Corkery
Aug. 17, 2018
MOBILE, Ala. — Crystal Thompson was at home watching the Rose Bowl parade when a county sheriff came to arrest her for shoplifting from the local Walmart. ... Ms. Thompson, 43, was baffled and scared. An agoraphobic, she had not shopped at a Walmart in more than a year. She was taken to a Mobile jail, searched, held in a small room and required to remove her false teeth, something she didn’t even do in front of her husband.
Four days after she returned home, the letters from Walmart’s lawyer started to arrive. The lawyer demanded that Ms. Thompson pay the company $200 or face a possible lawsuit. She received three letters over two months in early 2016.
Shoplifting is an intractable problem for retailers, costing stores more than $17 billion a year, according to an industry estimate. To get the money back, many companies employ aggressive legal tactics and take advantage of loosely written state laws, pushing for restitution even when people have not been convicted of wrongdoing.
Many of the laws were established so retailers could pursue shoplifters without clogging up the courts. Retailers, though, often move on both fronts, pressing criminal charges against suspects, while demanding that they pay up before cases are resolved. ... In many states, retailers do not have to return the money they collect if the cases are ultimately dismissed or the people are cleared. A Walmart executive, in a court deposition, acknowledged that the company did not follow up to check on whether people it sought money from had been convicted of shoplifting.
A letter sent to Ms. Thompson by the Palmer Reifler law firm demanding payment. She received three letters over two months.
....
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 19, 2018, on Page BU1 of the New York edition with the headline: Retailers Treat Them As Thieves, Guilty or Not. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Walmart and other companies are using aggressive legal tactics to get the money back, demanding payments even when people haven’t been convicted of wrongdoing.
By Michael Corkery
Aug. 17, 2018
MOBILE, Ala. — Crystal Thompson was at home watching the Rose Bowl parade when a county sheriff came to arrest her for shoplifting from the local Walmart. ... Ms. Thompson, 43, was baffled and scared. An agoraphobic, she had not shopped at a Walmart in more than a year. She was taken to a Mobile jail, searched, held in a small room and required to remove her false teeth, something she didn’t even do in front of her husband.
Four days after she returned home, the letters from Walmart’s lawyer started to arrive. The lawyer demanded that Ms. Thompson pay the company $200 or face a possible lawsuit. She received three letters over two months in early 2016.
Shoplifting is an intractable problem for retailers, costing stores more than $17 billion a year, according to an industry estimate. To get the money back, many companies employ aggressive legal tactics and take advantage of loosely written state laws, pushing for restitution even when people have not been convicted of wrongdoing.
Many of the laws were established so retailers could pursue shoplifters without clogging up the courts. Retailers, though, often move on both fronts, pressing criminal charges against suspects, while demanding that they pay up before cases are resolved. ... In many states, retailers do not have to return the money they collect if the cases are ultimately dismissed or the people are cleared. A Walmart executive, in a court deposition, acknowledged that the company did not follow up to check on whether people it sought money from had been convicted of shoplifting.
A letter sent to Ms. Thompson by the Palmer Reifler law firm demanding payment. She received three letters over two months.
....
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 19, 2018, on Page BU1 of the New York edition with the headline: Retailers Treat Them As Thieves, Guilty or Not. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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