Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania
wrongfully accused and detained
Yesterday (March 1), I was shopping for an engagement ring at the mall. My girlfriend and I stopped at several stores, including Helzberg. Suffice to say about a half hour after leaving Helzberg, we were stopped by two mall cops and a state trooper in another store and were told to follow them to Helzberg.
The employees at Helzberg said that they were missing two rings and we were detained until further evidence could be reviewed. The let us stand in the middle concourse of the mall, with the guards for about 20 minutes before they asked us to go to the security office and wait it out.
We went, and stayed for over two hours. During this time, we cooperated with the state trooper--and were each interogated individually (and I was padded down THOROUGHLY). Finally, Helzberg called the state cop and said they are focused elsewhere on the matter and we could be let go.
Do I have a civil case against Helzberg, and if so what are my options?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: wrongfully accused and detained
The tort that may be applicable is called false arrest or imprisionment. Not that you were arested and taken to prison in the criminal sense but that you in essence were possibly accused of theft. This is a difficult case and is fact sensitive. You were not held in a room in a store with the access in and out blocked or constrained because of the mall guards or state policeman preventing your leaving. However you were in open view in the mall but apparently surrounded by mall security and or police the implication to others being you may have done something wrong. There is another tort called abuse of legal process which could be applicable. However under the circumstances it may have been reasonable for the store to have you questioned as a possible suspect since you were in the store/ You should speak with an attorney who can get more facts and make a decision as to whether there is an actionable case or not.
Re: wrongfully accused and detained
You might have a case for false imprisonment if the store held you unreasonably.
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