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AN ATTORNEY has taken to TikTok to call out retail theft losses and how one major store deals with them.
Maverick Ray has taken to the platform to educate the general public on legal topics, and now he is tackling retail theft.
Under the account @dopest_lawyer, Ray posted a recent video captioned, “Walmart is the WORST.”
The video is a reply to a viewer’s comment on a previous video that read: “Those cameras are everywhere. Walmart reads your text message. So does your boss.”
This comment led Ray to produce this video calling out the retailer.
“I have a lot to say about Walmart,” began Ray.
“They lose a ton of money. A ton of money every year to shoplifters.”
The lawyer then launched into how the retailer handles these losses.
“But because of that they’re about tackling you before you leave that store,” he said.
Ray then went on to recount how one of his clients was stopped by Walmart security for “attempted theft.”
The woman had allegedly gone grocery shopping, mostly putting food and essentials in the cart and then parked it by an exit.
They were then, “Instantly surrounded by loss prevention [security] and taken to the [back].”
He went on to explain that she had been leaving her cart by the door to run back out to her car for her wallet, not to steal.
“Walmart, man I would love to sue them. They always are falsely arresting people.”
People in Ray’s comments were quick to share their own stories, alleging similarly upsetting encounters.
“I was stopped the other day and blocked from leaving before I even got to the door. This one employee try’s to block ppl from leaving all the time,” recounted one viewer.
“Happened to me, I forgot they don’t use tap pay. Put the formula on the reshop rack, went to the door and d&mn near got tackled,” shared another.
Walmart did not immediately respond to request for comment.
EXPERTS WEIGH-IN
Ray joins multiple other attorneys giving legal advice and knowledge related to retail and shoplifting.
Frank Walker is a lawyer with multi-state accreditation in West Virginia and Pennsylvania who has taken to social media to educate people on their rights as well.
“They may take you to the back of the store and have you review some documents. And say, ‘ He if you just pay this, then it will all go away,'” he warned viewers in one video.
Walker then shook his head in a negative response and gave his single answer to this situation.
“Call a lawyer.”
Hudson Valley local attorney Alex Mainetti has spoken out on the legality of this anti-theft practice based on his state laws.
“So the primary law that applies to these types of wrongful detentions cases is called ‘False Imprisonment’. Of course, you’re not literally imprisoned, but you’re detained by a person who has no lawful authority to detain you and/or wrongfully detains a customer,” he explained.
Mainetti said that a store could be liable for a false imprisonment claim.
“This most often happens in big box retail stores where security guards may suspect a customer stole items or is attempting to steal items from the store,” he said.
Continuing: “In that scenario, if the security guard detains a customer wrongfully when they didn’t actually steal anything or even attempt to then the owner of the store … would be vicariously liable for false imprisonment.”
