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Walmart cannot be sued for liability when customers like William Montgomery, who filed lawsuits, are wrongfully apprehended.
Montgomery sued Walmart on six different counts, but mainly for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution,assault, and defamation.
On June 2, District Court Judge Peter F. Michaelson, Colorado’s second-highest judge, ruled in Walmart and its employees’ favor and opposed Montgomery’s lawsuits because the judge thought that if Montgomery was innocent, he should have shown his receipts.
Last year, Walmart won five combined lawsuits filed by Montgomery after a Colorado county judge ruled in their favor. The decision was upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals.
“We believe our associates acted appropriately, and we will continue to defend the company in this litigation,” a Walmart spokesperson said.
This year, Montgomery sued Walmart on six different counts, but mainly for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution,assault, and defamation.
“Not only was Montgomery’s conduct sufficient to cause the Walmart employees to believe that his intent was to commit a crime, but he specifically intended that result,” wrote Michaelson, The Gazette reported.
It is not legally required for one to show their receipts but usually giant shopping warehouses like Walmart and Costco strongly advise its shoppers to show receipts in good faith.
“Reasonable people acting in good faith under the same or similar circumstances would have reasonable grounds — as did the Walmart employees — to find probable cause existed to detain and question Montgomery,” Michaelson said.
The judges, including Judge Matthew D. Grove, in the Colorado Court of Appeals believed that Montgomery went to the stores with the intention of suing them as part of a planned “sting” operation.
The shopper referred to these trips as a “sting” when talking to store employees and officers who responded, according to Grove.
“Montgomery sought to create circumstances which would result in Walmart employees reasonably believing he was committing a crime in their presence,” Grove wrote in an opinion affirming a previous decision.
According to Grove, Montgomery used to purchase items from the store but would decline a bag citing environmental reasons. He would then try to leave the store without showing a receipt. If he was stopped and asked for a receipt, Grove claims that he would refuse to provide it until he was detained or, in some instances, arrested.
“In each case, ‘Montgomery entered a Walmart store with the intent to and then actually acted in a manner intended to provoke Walmart employees into believing he was concealing property of the store,'” Grove wrote, quoting from the previous decision.