Woman Who Sued Walmart Over Shoplifting Arrest Is Awarded $2.1 Million

An Alabama pistillate who sued Walmart, contending that she was falsely arrested connected a shoplifting complaint and that the ordeal had damaged her reputation, was awarded $2.1 cardinal successful punitive damages by a assemblage this week.

The verdict, reached connected Monday by a assemblage successful Mobile County circuit court, was confirmed by Chuck Lewis, a lawman clerk for the court’s civilian division.

Recounting the episode, the woman, Lesleigh Nurse, said successful an interrogation connected Wednesday that she had conscionable finished utilizing a self-service checkout kiosk astatine the Walmart successful Semmes, Ala., connected Nov. 27, 2016, erstwhile the store’s employees accused her of not paying for immoderate groceries that totaled $48.

Despite her efforts to explicate that her hubby had paid the afloat magnitude of $122 with his debit card, Ms. Nurse said, she was held successful a backmost country astatine the store until a sheriff’s lawman arrived and told her that she would request to show the sheriff’s website for a warrant for her arrest.

Ms. Nurse, 36, said that the warrant charging her with shoplifting was issued 10 days later. She said she past turned herself successful astatine the region jailhouse successful Mobile, Ala., wherever she remained for astir 4 hours until she was released connected bond. Semmes, wherever Ms. Nurse lives, is astir 15 miles northwest of Mobile.

The shoplifting complaint was dropped successful March 2017 erstwhile the store’s plus extortion specializer failed to amusement up to court, but Ms. Nurse said that she continued to person letters from Walmart threatening to writer her if she didn’t wage $200.

“It was a nightmare,” Ms. Nurse said. “It was an entrapment. That’s what it felt like.”

The assemblage recovered Walmart liable for maltreatment of process — bringing a malicious ineligible proceeding against idiosyncratic that is intended to harass them.

But connected Ms. Nurse’s claims that she was falsely arrested, imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and slandered, the jurors sided with the retail giant.

Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesman, said connected Wednesday that the retailer would entreaty the verdict and that it believed that the $2.1 cardinal successful damages awarded by the assemblage exceeded the magnitude allowed nether the authorities instrumentality successful Alabama.

“We proceed to judge our associates acted appropriately,” Mr. Hargrove said. “We don’t judge the verdict is supported by the evidence.”

Mr. Hargrove noted that Walmart’s civilian betterment program, 1 that had faced disapproval for assertive tactics to scope settlements with those charged with shoplifting, was discontinued successful 2018. He disputed that the programme had been driven by revenues, arsenic immoderate critics had said.

“Civil betterment programs person been reported arsenic a nett centers, and they are not,” helium said. “And that characterization astir our institution was not accurate.”

The territory lawyer and sheriff’s bureau successful Mobile County did not instantly respond to requests for remark connected Wednesday.

When archetypal confronted by Walmart employees adjacent the store’s exit, Ms. Nurse said she figured it was each a misunderstanding, but then, she said, the crushed “crumbled close beneath my feet.”

“I thought, ‘There’s nary combat to beryllium fought,’” she continued. “I didn’t bash anything.”

Ms. Nurse said that Walmart employees berated her during the encounter, asking however she could shoplift successful beforehand of her 11-year-old lad and 9-year-old daughter. Since then, she said, her children person been ridiculed by different students implicit their mother’s arrest. A carpet and upholstery cleaning concern that she runs with her hubby has suffered immeasurably, she said.

Throughout the ordeal, Ms. Nurse said, Walmart refused repeated requests by her lawyers for information camera footage from the store. She said that the video was captious and would person shown a store worker helping her to scan items astatine the checkout, immoderate of which had to beryllium manually entered due to the fact that of a occupation with the kiosk.

“I judge that they’re truthful intimidating and truthful big,” Ms. Nurse said of Walmart. “They’ve grown to beryllium truthful tremendous that they consciousness similar they tin bash thing to anybody. That’s not right. Shame connected them.”

During the civilian trial, which lasted astir 3 weeks, the justice criticized Walmart for the “intentional loss” of the information camera footage, according to tribunal records. The judge, James T. Patterson, said that the tribunal would counsel the assemblage that the videotapes “were destroyed by the defendants with the intent” to deprive the plaintiff of the payment of seeing them “and that the assemblage truthful is to presume that the contented of the missing videos would beryllium adverse” to the defendants.

The Walmart spokesperson said helium was incapable to reply questions astir the videos that were destroyed. According to the spokesman, the store’s erstwhile plus extortion subordinate did look astatine Ms. Nurse’s primitively scheduled transgression proceeding and learned astatine that clip it was being postponed. He near the institution and did not look astatine the rescheduled hearing, the spokesperson said.

Vince Kilborn, a lawyer for Ms. Nurse, said connected Wednesday that Walmart went retired of its mode to marque Ms. Nurse’s beingness miserable.

“Her estimation is inactive a thief,” helium said. “She’s fought against the largest retailer successful the satellite implicit $48 and won.”

Ms. Nurse said that the harm caused by the apprehension cannot beryllium undone.

“There’s nary magnitude of wealth that’s going to marque that spell away,” she said.