Lucia Resendez Case

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Asma Al Shaikh Hasan 43149 Seat number: 33 6-2.This problem should be submitted via Safe Assign; and a hard copy submitted in class on the due date. (40 points) No collaboration permitted. On January 20, 1986, Lucia Resendez went shopping at Wal-Mart during her lunch break. Upon entering the store, she first went to the snack aisle to see what kind of peanuts they had. While browsing through the store, she began to eat from a bag of peanuts marked with a Wal-Mart price sticker. Raul Salinas, a security guard for Wal-Mart, followed Resendez and observed her place the empty bag under a rose bush. He then watched her purchase some items and leave the store. After determining that Resendez had not paid for a bag of peanuts, Salinas followed her into the parking lot. He accused her of taking the bag…show more content…
Application 4: The damages that Resendez experiences are not physical. However, she is probably injured from an emotional and psychological perspective such as anxiety and degradation resulting from the defendant’s detention. Conclusion: Normally the court is unlikely to find Wal-Mart liable for the tort of false imprisonment because the third element does not apply; a reasonable justification was present against Resendez. The defendant was able to provide a valid reason for detaining the plaintiff by considering the peanuts as stolen property. Despite the fact that a justification was identifiable, Salinas has defense options available if the rule was proved otherwise. According to the Merchant protection law, Salinas as an employee has the authority to confine a customer for property investigation purposes in a reasonable manner and a reasonable period of time. Resendez was detained for ten to fifteen minutes which is not extreme according to the law. Also, no evidence exists to prove that the confinement occurred in an unreasonable
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