Is this a possible civil case?

[pmoniz]

What is the name of your state? Nevada

I'm not sure how to handle this, so please help if you can.
Sorry its so long.


I recently stopped at a 7-Eleven to get my 4 year old son a slurpee. We were waiting in line to pay and my son was wearing his new heely shoes (shoes with the wheels in them). He's only 4 so he can barely move in these shoes and I have to hold his hand. While I'm holding his hand, he tries to move forward because we are up next in line. At this point a very large man wearing a 7-Eleven shirt with the name tag "Carl" approaches us very quickly.

Carl yells," He has to pop those wheels back in his shoes right now! He is not going to skate in here"

I replied,"okay, we are leaving right now, I'm just trying to pay for his drink."

Carl steps closer to me and say,"He is going to do it right now."

I reply,"okay, I'm trying to leave right now, let me finish paying." I then turn around and try to pay.

My son is now trying to hide behind my legs, he's terrified because Carl keeps staring at him and then me.

Carl now says,"No, he is going to pop those wheels in right now!!"

I turn back around and Carl is now in my face. I say,"he can't pop the wheels in its not that type of shoe, you need a tool to take them out and I don't have it on me."

Carl says,"then he has to take his shoes off, right now!!"

I turn back around and try to finish paying. Carl continues to say things to us.

I'm still holding my sons hand trying to get him to calm down. My son at this point can't walk without shaking. We get to the door and as I'm walking out I feel someone behind me. I turn around as soon as we step outside. Carl is directly in my face now.

My son now thinks Carl is trying to hurt him or take his shoes and is holding on to my leg in fear. I ask Carl what does he want, and what is his problem.

Carl says,"you're the one with the problem, I'm just trying to go outside, you're in my way."

So now I just grab my son and try to walk quickly to our car on the side of the building.

Carl now start screaming,"you ain't special you know, the rules apply to you too. You ain't nobody, I'm not going to let you do whatever you want."

I open our car and my son now starts screaming because he can't get his door open. He's terrified and is shaking too much to move.
My wife is sitting in the backseat with my 4 month old daughter, is now frantic because she doesn't understand why this large man is yelling at us.
Now my daughter starts screaming and my wife is scared.

I quickly try to get my son in the car and say to Carl,"why don't you just go back inside and leave us alone. Go back to work."

Carl then screams,"F@!ck you, F@ck you, we can do this right here. F@ck you!!!" He says it about a dozen or more times while he puts his fist at me and keeps flipping me off.

My wife starts screaming for me to get in the car and both my babies are now crying and screaming.

Carl keeps screaming,"F@ck you, I'll take care of you right here, F#ck you"

I get in the car and lock the doors and roll up the windows. Carl is still screaming obscenities and starts to approach my window now. I back the car up and leave as fast as we can.

As soon as we get home and everyone is calmed down, my wife calls the 7-Eleven and talks to the manager "Rita". My wife explains everything that happened and Rita says she will look into it and call her back. My wife also asks to speak to the owner. Rita says she will have him call back as well. My wife tried to call again the next day, but has gotten no where and now neither Rita and the owner will not talk to us. We haven't been able to get in contact with anyone in corporate.

Is there anything we can do legally? This whole situation is total bs. Now my son thinks the slurpee guy doesn't like him and wants to take his shoes away. He keeps complaining that his stomach hurts since this happened. My wife is terrified of 7-Eleven.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Or with 7-Eleven?

I appreciate any help or advice you can give us.

 

[racer72]

Other than being terrified by the idiot, you or your family suffered no financial loss and have no cause for legal action. Take your business elsewhere is about the best advice your going to get. You could file a complaint with the 7-11 folks but don't expect much.

 

[pmoniz]

Thanks for the quick response. Its too bad that people can get away with actions like this.

 

[badapple40]

I'd look into Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) and assault (causing a reasonable belief you were about to be battered) -- especially where you were the customer of a store (a business invitee). Emotional distress is enough to recover for on the assault, and it gives rise to punitive damages where, as here, it was done intentionally and maliciously. To make out the IIED, you'd almost need junior or your daughter to need to go to a psychologist for treatment, or to constantly wake up with nightmares over the incident.

In any event, I think you've got a solid civil assault case and a not-too-bad-IIED case.

 

[You Are Guilty]

I'd look into Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) and assault (causing a reasonable belief you were about to be battered) -- especially where you were the customer of a store (a business invitee). Emotional distress is enough to recover for on the assault, and it gives rise to punitive damages where, as here, it was done intentionally and maliciously. To make out the IIED, you'd almost need junior or your daughter to need to go to a psychologist for treatment, or to constantly wake up with nightmares over the incident.

In any event, I think you've got a solid civil assault case and a not-too-bad-IIED case.

And how much is a "fear of Slurpees" worth? While I agree there's a decent claim for an assault (I'm not so hot on the IIED claim), there's still no real damages.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

File a police report for assault.
While you CAN recover on the IIED claim, there must first be a predicate civil action from which to state the IIED.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? Nevada

I'm not sure how to handle this, so please help if you can.
Sorry its so long.


I recently stopped at a 7-Eleven to get my 4 year old son a slurpee. We were waiting in line to pay and my son was wearing his new heely shoes (shoes with the wheels in them). He's only 4 so he can barely move in these shoes and I have to hold his hand. While I'm holding his hand, he tries to move forward because we are up next in line. At this point a very large man wearing a 7-Eleven shirt with the name tag "Carl" approaches us very quickly.

Carl yells," He has to pop those wheels back in his shoes right now! He is not going to skate in here"

I replied,"okay, we are leaving right now, I'm just trying to pay for his drink."

Carl steps closer to me and say,"He is going to do it right now."

I reply,"okay, I'm trying to leave right now, let me finish paying." I then turn around and try to pay.

My son is now trying to hide behind my legs, he's terrified because Carl keeps staring at him and then me.

Carl now says,"No, he is going to pop those wheels in right now!!"

I turn back around and Carl is now in my face. I say,"he can't pop the wheels in its not that type of shoe, you need a tool to take them out and I don't have it on me."

Carl says,"then he has to take his shoes off, right now!!"

I turn back around and try to finish paying. Carl continues to say things to us.

I'm still holding my sons hand trying to get him to calm down. My son at this point can't walk without shaking. We get to the door and as I'm walking out I feel someone behind me. I turn around as soon as we step outside. Carl is directly in my face now.

My son now thinks Carl is trying to hurt him or take his shoes and is holding on to my leg in fear. I ask Carl what does he want, and what is his problem.

Carl says,"you're the one with the problem, I'm just trying to go outside, you're in my way."

So now I just grab my son and try to walk quickly to our car on the side of the building.

Carl now start screaming,"you ain't special you know, the rules apply to you too. You ain't nobody, I'm not going to let you do whatever you want."

I open our car and my son now starts screaming because he can't get his door open. He's terrified and is shaking too much to move.
My wife is sitting in the backseat with my 4 month old daughter, is now frantic because she doesn't understand why this large man is yelling at us.
Now my daughter starts screaming and my wife is scared.

I quickly try to get my son in the car and say to Carl,"why don't you just go back inside and leave us alone. Go back to work."

Carl then screams,"F@!ck you, F@ck you, we can do this right here. F@ck you!!!" He says it about a dozen or more times while he puts his fist at me and keeps flipping me off.

My wife starts screaming for me to get in the car and both my babies are now crying and screaming.

Carl keeps screaming,"F@ck you, I'll take care of you right here, F#ck you"

I get in the car and lock the doors and roll up the windows. Carl is still screaming obscenities and starts to approach my window now. I back the car up and leave as fast as we can.

As soon as we get home and everyone is calmed down, my wife calls the 7-Eleven and talks to the manager "Rita". My wife explains everything that happened and Rita says she will look into it and call her back. My wife also asks to speak to the owner. Rita says she will have him call back as well. My wife tried to call again the next day, but has gotten no where and now neither Rita and the owner will not talk to us. We haven't been able to get in contact with anyone in corporate.

Is there anything we can do legally? This whole situation is total bs. Now my son thinks the slurpee guy doesn't like him and wants to take his shoes away. He keeps complaining that his stomach hurts since this happened. My wife is terrified of 7-Eleven.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Or with 7-Eleven?

I appreciate any help or advice you can give us.

There is no civil action and no criminal action in these facts.

 

[meganproser]

Last night I had a nightmare about the slurpee case. Will that help the OP any?

 

[seniorjudge]

Last night I had a nightmare about the slurpee case. Will that help the OP any?

You have no action.

 

[badapple40]

Damages are met simply through the emotional distress suffered.

I'm not as hot on the IIED either because of the requirement for "severe emotional distress" (usually must be debilitating) and we don't have any evidence junior has stopped eating and has thoughts of offing himself as a result of his dad being scared by "Carl." That said, it may be a viable claim.

The assault, however, well thats a different story.

Davignon v. Clemmey, 322 F.3d 1: there's almost $4.5 million in damages just based on emotional damages (and only 350,000 for the one person's battery charge).

I'm not saying the facts in this case are grounds to warrant recovery in an amount that large. He is probably looking at anywhere from $2500 to $25000, but there is a case here.

 

[pmoniz]

Thanks everyone for all the responses. I appreciate all the help and case information.