Posted on 03/28/2010 3:04:30 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
A Houston woman who was wrongly arrested in 2008 at the Walmart in Meyer Park has won a $9 million jury verdict.
Nitra Gipson, 24, filed a civil lawsuit against the retailer after store employees accused her of trying to exchange counterfeit Walmart money orders for cash. She was arrested and spent two days in jail. The Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to pursue charges after it was determined that the money orders were genuine.
That meant Gipson had been falsely accused and falsely arrested.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Appears to be a royal screw-up by Walmart, but $9 million?
I wonder what the jury looked like? I’m sure Walmart can/will appeal, right?
Pac-Man? That’s hilarious. Reminds me of a comedy skit called ‘SBC Packers’ by Rex Navarette. I never could understand the joke until a Philippino friend of mine explained the trouble with pronouncing the letter ‘f’ and the letter ‘p.’
I didn't read the article so I don't know the facts. If her attorney is smart, he'll tell her to take the half mil they will probably offer her.
Thank you. I thought it would be pretty close to that.
The arresting officer has no responsibilty here. Unless he is a forged document expert and knew the money orders were real and still arrested her. As it stood, he had a complainant (walmart) and they wanted charges pressed. It was a good faith arrest.
I thought Richard Jewel had passed on? He never got to enjoy the money which I think he deserved myself. He was heinously slandered on a national scale.
He did, I think a couple years ago. But, I believe all of his lawsuits had been settled. I remember he settled with NBC, a NY newspaper and maybe CNN.
“Reminds me of a comedy skit”
Reminds me of my 9th Grade Latin teacher at Prep School. He was Dutch, had an accent, and had been in the Dutch Undergound. We’d get him to tellin’ War stories, and he’d tell us about the German Fokkers flying over. Only he didn’t pronounce it “Faw-kers” like we did. His first syllable sounded like “Fuh-!” He’d crack us up every time, and he couldn’t figure out why! Good man. Brave man! Good teacher!
Although Fokkers was a Dutch company, they were in Germany for a while, and then moved back, but were pretty much confiscated by the Germans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker
Good point about Jewel. If Wal-Mart would have been a Network News Org. or a daily rag and just reported this gal a thief and huckster, and then the report got her arrested and sued, she would have gotten nothing.
basically, yeah. I believe Wal Mart owns its own bank for the purpose of clearing these transactions and the like. As far as the original story, 9mm may be a stretch, but I don’t have a problem with WM getting hit with a substantial penalty. Depriving someone of their liberty unjustly is a big deal to me, whether the government does it or some other entity.
Yes. They'll probably file a motion to reduce, remittitur or a new trial. Will that motion prevail? Who knows. I see a settlement (a handsome settlement) in my crystal ball.
Wait are you telling me that if I accuse someone of something illegal in my store the police must arrest someone?
Sorry but Police have discretion to arrest and they should suffer for arresting someone falsely! There was no hurry, WalMart had the evidence and the police could have verified the crime before arresting an innocent victim. I mean someone did verify that the documents were genuine eventually so we know its possible.
The arresting officer should feel the financial sting too so the next time he/she will do some checking before arresting!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell
Police can arrest someone under the standard of reasonable suspicion. Legally speaking, that's a pretty low bar. If Wal-Mart, the issuer of the negotiable instrument, tells the police that the money orders are counterfeit, that in and of itself constitutes reasonable suspicion.
Suing the police wouldn't have bore fruit, in my estimation. But, clearly Wal-Mart was defamatory in their accusation, and the jury made them pay a price.
I got a Walmart money order a few months ago and it was drawn on a bank in Alaska, I assume is so it will take forever to clear.
That's interesting. It appears Jewell sued everyone and their brother. He may have indeed collected more than $8 million. It's tough to tell as the settlements (mostly) aren't publicized. It's also interesting that one suit (Cox Communications) is still ongoing almost 14 years later.
Is it not exactly what the political class did to the American citizenry during the financial meltdown and bailout; all the while lining their pockets throughout the process! So, why should we complain about this person’s reparation.
Nope. It will clear in a matter of days, not weeks. There are banking regulations that say the bank can only hold those funds for several days with 2 as the minimum and 9 as the maximum. It's called Regulation CC, if you want to research it further.
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