Meadows v. F. W. Woolworth Co. - 254 F. Supp. 907 (N.D. Fla. 1966)

Rule:

Fla. Stat. Ann. § 811.022(1) provides that a merchant's employee who has probable cause for believing that goods have been unlawfully taken by a person and that he can recover them by taking the person into custody, may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery, take the person into custody and detain him in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time. Such taking into custody shall not render such merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false imprisonment. Nor is the merchant liable.

Facts:

The local police alerted the store manager several days prior to the incident to be on the lookout for teenage girls that were believed to be shoplifting. On the day of the incident the two minors, together with a companion, were in the store on two different occasions and had been walking around looking at various articles. The manager noticed that two hairpieces were missing. The manager asked a clerk if the minors had been near the hairpiece counter and upon learning that they had been, the manager called to the girls. The testimony is in complete accord that the manager's manner was neither harsh nor abusive and that no threats were made by him at all. He asked if he could look in their purses. Again all the testimony is in agreement that the manager's tone was conversational only. Plaintiff Meadow's own statement was that she went into the store of "my own free will," although she did so out of respect to an adult. After examining the two of the three purses the manager discontinued his search, and some time later offered a partial explanation of his activities in this regard. The girls were in the store an interval of 3-10 minutes, 10 minutes being the maximum time estimated. The minors  filed complaints against defendant store for false imprisonment and the store filed a motion for summary judgment and argued that it was protected from liability by the Florida Shoplifting Statute, Fla. Stat. Ann. § 811.022.

Issue:

Was the momentary detention reasonable, thus, the store was not liable for false imprisonment?

Answer:

Yes.

Conclusion:

The court noted that the manager's manner was neither harsh nor abusive and he made no threats. The court found that Fla. Stat. Ann. § 811.022(1) provided that a merchant's employee who had probable cause to believe that goods had been unlawfully taken by a person and that he could recover them by taking the person into custody, could detain the person in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time. The court held that such taking into custody did not render such merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false imprisonment, and neither was the merchant liable.