A mother-of-three has been awarded more than $2 million after she was falsely accused by Walmart of stealing $48 worth of items.
According to reports, the supermarket threatened Lesleigh Nurse with legal action unless she repaid $200 for shoplifting 11 items, including Christmas lights, Captain Crunch cereal, and a loaf of bread.
On Monday, a jury ruled in favor of the woman who used the self-checkout line and was accompanied by her husband and children.
At one point, the barcode scanner froze and Nurse needed an employee assistant but the staff didn’t believe her explanation.
After she completed the transactions and paid, a manager stopped her while they were leaving the store in Semmes.
Speaking to WKRG, she recalled: “I remember going in that little room and I was like, ‘This will be resolved, this was an accident, this wasn’t on purpose.’”
Even though the criminal charges were dismissed after a year, the mother-of-three continued to receive notices from Florida law firm Palmer Reifler threatening to file a civil suit against her if she didn’t pay $200.
The lawsuit said that Walmart directed the law firm to send Nurse the notices.
Speaking to The New York times, Nurse said that Walmart refused to show the surveillance video of her stealing the items. No witnesses from the retailer ever showed up during her three court appearances.
Nurse said that even though the settlement was reached, the letters from the law firm stopped, and that the criminal case was dropped, she still has a long way to go to rebuild her reputation.
One person commented: “Big corporate with big pockets preying on those they think are easy targets. Because those billions and billions a year in profit just aren’t enough they demand 200 dollars for using their own faulty checkout equipment.”
Another wrote: “She deserves the win for Walmart being such an idiot. In fact they should award her 1 billion to teach Wal-Mart a lesson they are not God and can’t treat people like this.”
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