Teenage Daughter Shoplifting

[skibum]

We are in Denver, Colorado. My 16 yr old daughter was arrested shoplifting. She has performed community service, gone to theft class and paid a fine. Now we have received a demand for payment of $200.00 from the store. The merchandise was returned to the store by the officers making the arrest. Can this really legally happen? If the merchandise did not leave the store what legal right do they have to demand this payment.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

. . . and when you spoke to the manager / owner of the store about this, what did they say ?

Please quote the letter, in it's entirety (without names), so that we can better understand the argument and reasoning of the store.

IAAL

[Edited by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE on 07-16-2001 at 12:36 PM]

 

[racer72]

Many states, including Colorado, have laws that allow for retailers to assess civil fines as a way to make up for losses due to shoplifting. It is legal and I support retailers that use the law.

 

[JETX]

Racer, I agree with you that retailers should be able to recover shoplifting damages by civil action; however, in this case the retailer was not damaged, the property was recovered.

I had a very similar case where a national store chain sent my client (actually parents) a demand letter for theft of property. When I contacted the 'recovery department' to ask for a jusification for their claim, they investigated and found that the property had been recovered. They ceased all efforts of recovery, gave a written apology and purged their files of all records of the juvenile offender.

(I know, a claim could be made that the store personnel spent time having to 'handle' the matter, but that was found to be unprovable since the store didn't keep accurate records of actual time and cost for this incident.)

 

[racer72]

The law as written in my state and probably similar in others does allow the retailers to charge for the stolen merchandise if it is not returned or cannot be sold as new. But the retailers are also allowed to levy civil fines for the cost of theft prevention and associated costs. I learned first hand a few years ago when my step-daughter was nabbed at a local department store. She and a friend attempted to leave the store with about $50 worth of goods. All items were recovered in new condtion and were place back on the shelf. The only fine was the one levied by the retailer for $500 (the maximum in Washington state). I challenged the legality of the fine but was rebuffed at every turn. My step-daughter paid the fine and to this day is still not allowed in the store.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

. . . and you'll notice, after all this time, our original writer still hasn't written back with any answers or comments.

IAAL