Oregon Live – by Aimie GreenA man who claims he was pushing his shopping cart out of a Portland Costco Wholesale warehouse when he was detained because he wouldn’t stop and show his receipt is suing the store for $670,000.
Timothy Walls emerged from the Jan. 28, 2013, encounter with a leg broken in multiple places, according to his lawsuit, filed last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court. According to one of Walls’ attorneys, Walls didn’t believe the store had a right to detain him based upon their practice of checking receipts at the door.
The policy states: “To ensure that all members are correctly charged for the merchandise purchased, all receipts and merchandise will be inspected as you leave the warehouse.”
Walls had just bought $102.66 worth of goods from the 4849 N.E. 138th Ave. Costco location, and as he was leaving the store an employee grabbed and held onto his shopping cart and told him he couldn’t leave, according to the suit.
Words were exchanged, and when the employee wouldn’t let go, Walls grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him away from his shopping cart, the suit states.
That’s when another employee used “a martial arts type strike with his leg” that the employee had learned while training with the U.S. Armed Forces, the suit states.
Walls contends he was already outside the store and in the breezeway. Costco contends he hadn’t left the store yet.
Bill Stockton, a Hillsboro attorney representing Costco, declined to comment. But in a motion he filed about the incident, he wrote that Walls’ injuries were “the sole and direct result of (his) own conduct, fault, and negligence” because Walls is the one who attacked the employees.
Clayton Morrison, a Beaverton attorney representing Walls, said employees didn’t have reasonable suspicion that Walls was stealing and so they didn’t have a right to take hold of the merchandise Walls’ lawfully bought. Morrison said the consequences for failing to abide by the store’s blanket policy of checking receipts shouldn’t be detainment — it should be canceling the customer’s membership.
“The central issue in the case is … ’What can Costco lawfully do? … Can they actually stop you and take your property from you?’ Our answer is ‘No,’” Morrison said.
The issue is wider than just Walls’ beef with Costco. As stores — perhaps Costco being the most prominent — check receipts at the door, some customers have declared the stops unreasonable and claimed a violation of their privacy rights, stemming from laws based off of the Fourth Amendment.
Walls is seeking $150,000 for past and future medical expenses, $20,000 for lost wages and $500,000 for pain and suffering.
— Aimee Green
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/09/man_wont_show_costco_wholesale.html
No one tried to “take his stuff”. The guy is a liar.
Costco is a private membership club. Members agree
to abide by the rules. His refusal to follow the club’s
universal exit procedure signals he may be hiding something.
Exit checks deter theft. Theft lost expenses are passed to
other members.
Maybe this charlatan is a terrerist.
Deny all and accuse your accuser.
You defend Costco? Are you out of your damn mind?
It looks like an unlawful arrest attempt to me.
“That’s when another employee used “a martial arts type strike with his leg” that the employee had learned while training with the U.S. Armed Forces, the suit states.”
Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. 🙄
sounds like he kicked the guy in the side of the knee or slightly below it, that blows out your knee, and could also result in further leg injury
If this is what was done i know the tactic, and was trained in its implementation also ( not that difficult of a move)
sounds like we have an up and coming cop thug watching the exit line at costco.. lol
Is it possible the guy was trying to exit the store with stolen merch. possibly?
but I shop at cost co and I have no idea how you would exit that store with stolen stuff.. after the check out theres really nothing you can put in your cart..they do the check out…..so
Its still a pretty aggressive move to make on a “suspected” theft issue or “old man syndrome”( dont wanna be bothered with petty shtuff)
was there camera footage? did their loss prevention person order their people not to let him leave?
seems theres some holes in this story
You should take special note that in all walmarts and costcos they have cameras that can see you at all times and that can hear you whisper. They put a lot of resources into making sure the poor employees don’t steal the cheap chinese junk and poisonous food that there is no need to check anyone at the door…ever. They know exactly what you put in your cart and can check that against the damn receipt in real time! The fact that it’s older people and retired vets doing this gestapo style checking at the door for minimum wage is just sad…. f#@king saaaaaad!
rcpt check is a well know Costco policy. no excuse not to stop. a regular non-membership store had better have a sign up on the door indicating an exit recpt check or I won’t be stopping for them. actually, I won’t shop there. I do at Costco. and stopping for a rcpt check is what I signed up for with membership.
Costco pays above min. starting wages. in pa, it was around double (+/-) min wage at that time. no I didn’t work for them, but I knew someone who did.