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Length of time in Colorado to file civil suit?

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B

buddy1995

Guest
Three days (12/18/97) after I moved to Colorado Springs from California, my mother and I had spent the day shopping at the mall and had gone to Denny's Restaurant for dinner.

After we had our meal and were preparing to pay the bill, we waited behind a few customers ahead of us while the cashier (Jimmie) was trying to separate a meal ticket 3 ways and was having problems in doing so.

I was starting to become a little impatient and asked my mother if there was another line where we could pay. At the same time, a man and his family were also becoming impatient and decided not to wait and left without paying their bill.

After a few minutes, we paid our bill and went home.

About 10:30pm, we got a knock on our front door and my mother and I were afraid to open it and we saw a badge, so I decided to open the door, anyway (It turned out to be a Colorado Springs Police Officer).

He asked us if we had went to the Denny's at about 6:30pm and walked out without paying and of course, we said 'No.' He told us that an officer would be calling us in a few minutes to confirm what we had just told him.

My mother and I thought about it and decided to go back to the restaurant to talk to them and when we got there, Jimmie told us they were closing for the night and we told him what happened and wanted to talk to the manager.

I have asthma and all the excitement caused me to have an attack. Once we saw the manager, she admitted that Jimmie had yelled to her "they are walking out without paying!" and that she had ran out and wrote down our license plate because we were leaving at the same time as the people that walked out without paying did."

Not once, did she offer me so much as a drink of water and until my mother mentioned to the officer that she thought we should be compensated somehow and he went and took the manager aside, did she come back and offered to give us a "free meal each on HER shift" (which we did not accept.)

A week or so later, we contacted the District Manager for Denny's and explained again, what happened, and again, we were offered a free meal in any Denny's restaurant (which we did not accept.)

Do we have any legal recourse claim against Denny's and if so, how long do we have to file it or go about doing it?

Until this incident, I use to love to go to Denny's and when we had a choice of places to eat at, I would choose Denny's most of the time, but since this happened, I have not, nor will not (and I swear on my father's grave) ever set foot in another Denny's restaurant (even if it is the only restaurant in town for miles!).

Please give me some advice on what I can do with this situation, as I would not want this to happen to anyone else.

 


JETX

Senior Member
Based on your post, it is my opinion that you just got caught up in a case of mistaken identity and, other than a little inconvenience (you are the one who decided to return to Denny's), you have not been damaged.

Unless you can prove that Denny's identified your car maliciously or with negligence (doesn't sound like it), you really have no case. I would suggest you take the free meal and chalk it up to another of life's experiences.
 

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