Target Court Case Summary

Facts: Mrs. Moore entered into the Midwest City Target looking for a magnetic chess set and was informed that Target does not sell those. When Mrs. Moore was made aware of this information she started looking in the toy section. She picked up a telescope and the package was priced for around five or six dollars, so she purchased the telescope. Mr. Lanigan became aware of the situation and took the package from her car, led her inside, recited her rights, and accused her of switching price tags to make the item cheaper for her. One of Retail Shrinkage Control Employees also accused her of switching price tags. The accusation cause a female employee of Target to take Mrs. Moore to a back room where she was questioned and placed under citizen’s arrest.
The plaintiff, Mrs. Moore, demonstrated no basis of probable cause. All of Mrs. Moore’s items were priced with numerous price tags but Target stated that it wasn’t unusual for items to be priced more than once. Mrs. Moore also testified that she was humiliated during the arrest and that she had become so anxious and nervous that she could not keep her hands steady in order to etch glass items, which was a side job that she depended on for income. A psychiatrist testified that she should get treatment for $7,000

Mrs. Moore has the duty of proving lack of probable cause for bringing the criminal action against her, Lewis v. Crystal Gas Co., 532 P.2d 431 (Okl. 1975), and she must prove lack of probable cause by affirmative evidence. The defendants do not feel that her evidence, that she picked up a box which was marked incorrectly, is not a probable cause to believe she was responsible. Although, the record demonstrated proof, that she did not have fingernails to change the price tags, and the jury believed this