Can I sue for falsely being accused of stealing and public humiliation?
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Can I sue for falsely being accused of stealing and public humiliation?
I was in a grocery store yesterday. I had grabbed some hamburger meat, as I continued to
shop for the rest of my groceries. I then decided not to get the meat, so I put it back in the same spot I got it from. I proceeded to the check out line and paid for my items but as soon as the cashier had given me my money back, the manager approched me and began accusing me of stealing and demanding that I open my bag in front of the entire store. The other customers were looking at me, as were the employees. New Link Destination
day I went back up there to talk to the store manager and she assured me that the manager who accused me was in the wrong; they are not to do something like this it in front of everyone. I wrote corporate but haven’t heard nothing back. Is this something I can sue for?
Asked on July 1, 2016 under Personal Injury, North Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
You may be able to sue, but it's worth bothering. There is no lawsuit for "public humiliation"--that's simply not something you can sue for. You can sue for defamation, which is in some ways similar: that is for someone publically making a false statement of fact which damages your reputation. However, the law relates the amount of compensation you can get to the damage, loss, costs, etc. you incur from the wrongful act. If you can show that due to this, you were kicked out of some clubs or organizations that were important to you, or you lost you a job or were denied being hired for a new job, etc., you may have a viable claim. But without some loss, the amount of money you'd get for once being accused of theft in public in front of strangers is almost certainly significantly less than you'd spend on the lawsuit if you hired an attorney--and if you sued on your own, while you might technically come out ahead, would it be worth what could be two days or more of your time in total?
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