Jones v. Target Corp.

• Decision Date: 19 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 1:04CV366.,1:04CV366.
• Citation: 341 F.Supp.2d 583
• Parties: Kasie D. JONES, Plaintiff, v. TARGET CORPORATION, d/b/a Target Stores Incorporated, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

Page 583

341 F.Supp.2d 583

Kasie D. JONES, Plaintiff, v. TARGET CORPORATION, d/b/a Target Stores Incorporated, Defendant.

No. 1:04CV366.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Alexandria Division.

October 19, 2004.

William Hale Thompson, Jr., Charlottesville, VA, for Plaintiff.

Clark Hathaway Lewis, Troutman Sanders LLP, Richmond, VA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

In this diversity suit plaintiff, Kasie D. Jones, a Pennsylvania resident, brings claims for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution against Target Corporation ("Target"), a Minnesota corporation, for her detention and arrest after she attempted to leave a Target store with a television and VCR for which she had no receipt, but which she claimed was an even exchange for earlier returned merchandise. Target seeks summary judgment on the ground that it is immune from liability pursuant to Virginia Code § 8.01-226.9 because at the time of detention its employees had probable cause to believe that Jones had committed the crime of petit larceny by carrying away electronics for which she had not paid.

For the reasons that follow, Target's summary judgment motion must be granted as the undisputed material facts reflect that Target's employees had probable cause to detain Jones.

I.

The record reflects the following largely undisputed facts and where disputes exist they are either immaterial or construed favorably to Jones, as required.¹ On the evening of September 2, 2002, Jones, along with three of her friends, entered a Target store in Alexandria, Virginia where Jones intended to return a defective 19-inch TV/VCR combination machine that she had received as a gift from her parents. Jones' parents had purchased the TV/VCR from a Target store in Springfield, Pennsylvania. Upon entering the store, Jones went first to the customer service counter and returned the TV/VCR with a copy of the original receipt. The customer service agent, Porsche Todd, completed the return and refunded the $211.99 original purchase price to a credit card in Jones' mother's name. Todd claims that she provided Jones with a copy of a receipt to that effect. Jones does not remember receiving or seeing this receipt and claims that she was unaware that her mother's account had been credited. Instead, according to Jones, she understood that she would be permitted to make an even exchange of a new TV/VCR for the returned unit and that she could do so by simply selecting a comparable unit in the store. After completing this return transaction, Jones went to the electronics department where she and her friends continued to shop.

During the weeks and months prior to September 2, 2002, Target had experienced an increase in the number of instances of fraud involving the return of expensive merchandise, including electronics. Accordingly, Target Senior Asset Protection Specialist Issa Haddad and other security personnel observed Jones and her friends via surveillance cameras as they shopped in the electronics department. After perusing the shelves, Jones selected a 19-inch color television and a separate VCR, and placed them in her cart. She also selected a single compact disc. While Jones and her friends continued to shop one of Jones' companions was observed on the surveillance cameras shoplifting two separate items. Specifically, while Jones stood a few feet away, her friend was observed by Target's security personnel removing a pen from its packaging and concealing it from view. A short time later, the same friend was observed taking a separate item out of her cart, concealing it from view, and placing it in her purse or backpack without paying for it.

Once Jones had completed her shopping, she approached a cashier in the electronics department in an attempt to check out, but the cashier told Jones that she could not ring up her television and VCR there. Accordingly, the employee led Jones to the front of the store where Jones approached a cashier in the customer service department. The cashier, Deanna Mays, began to ring up all three items in Jones' cart: the television, the VCR, and the compact disc. When Mays told Jones that her total for all three items was $211.06, Jones explained that she had already paid for the television and VCR because this was an even exchange for the TV/VCR combination she had previously returned. Based on this representation, Mays voided the transaction and rang up only the compact disc. Jones claims that she did not realize that the items had been voided; instead, she claims that she and Mays both understood the transaction to be an even exchange for the returned TV/VCR combo. At this time, Mays received a call from Haddad, who had been monitoring the group's activities by video surveillance, who advised Mays that Target Asset Protection personnel would now handle the situation with Jones and her electronics equipment. Jones then paid $8.30 cash for the compact disc and received a stack of receipts, which she says she assumed documented the exchange of the non-working set for its replacement. With these receipts in hand, she proceeded toward the store exit.

Leaving the customer service station, Jones and her three friends pushed the cart and the electronics equipment toward and through the exit. Once Jones had exited the store, she was stopped by Target Protection Specialist Terrence Burnett. When Burnett asked Jones for a receipt to demonstrate that she had paid for the television and VCR, Jones handed him the receipts she had received from the cashier, but failed to produce a receipt proving that she had paid for the television and VCR in her cart. Shortly thereafter, Asset Protection Specialists Haddad and Steven Caraway arrived on the scene. Concluding that they had probable cause to believe that Jones had shoplifted the television and VCR, Haddad, Burnett, and Caraway detained Jones, and took her to a separate room for questioning.²

Approximately twenty minutes later, Alexandria City Police Officer Scott J. Patterson arrived at the Target store and questioned Jones and various Target employees. From his investigation, Officer Patterson concluded that there was probable cause to believe that Jones had committed the crime of petit larceny pursuant to Virginia Code § 18.2-96. Accordingly, Officer Patterson arrested and charged Jones with the offense and shortly thereafter Jones was released on a summons directing her to appear in the Alexandria General District Court on October 1, 2002. In her deposition, Jones conceded that Target's employees detained her for only fifteen to twenty-five minutes, at which time Officer Patterson arrived and detained her for only ten to fifteen minutes longer.

It appears that Target regained possession of the television and VCR before Jones was released. And, as Jones' mother conceded in her deposition, she received a credit of $211.99 dated September 2, 2002 on her next credit card statement.

At an October 1, 2002 bench trial, Jones pled not guilty and was acquitted of the offense of petit larceny. On March 4, 2004, Jones filed a motion for judgment against Target in Alexandria Circuit Court, alleging malicious prosecution and false imprisonment and demanding $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Target then filed a timely notice of removal on the basis of diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441 and 1446. On September 24, 2004, Target filed this summary judgment motion arguing (i) that Target is immune from liability pursuant to Virginia Code § 8.01-226.9 for Jones' claims for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment because at the time Target's employees detained Jones and caused her to be charged, they had probable cause to do so, (ii) that Jones has failed to establish her claims of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment because she has failed to demonstrate that Target lacked probable cause to detain her, (iii) that Jones is guilty of the underlying offense, and (iv) that no evidence supports Jones' claim for punitive damages. Because the first issue is dispositive, it is unnecessary to reach Target's other grounds for summary judgment.

II.

The threshold issue is to identify the appropriate governing law. Because this case was removed on diversity grounds, state law, including state choice of law rules, governs the substantive claims. See Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941). It follows, therefore, that as all events occurred in Virginia, Jones' substantive claims are governed by Virginia law. See McMillan v. McMillan, 219 Va. 1127, 253 S.E.2d 662, 663 (1979) (the principle of lex loci delicti required application of Virginia law because Virginia was the place of the wrong). But importantly, it is settled that a different result obtains with respect to procedural matters; they are governed by federal law, specifically the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965). Thus, the procedural standard against which Target's summary judgment motion must be measured is Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P., and the decisional authority construing this provision. Specifically, summary judgment is appropriate only when there is no issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), Fed.R.Civ.P.; see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). While it is true that on summary judgment the facts must be viewed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, it is equally true that the non-moving party "may not rest upon mere allegations or denials ... but must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue [of material fact]." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); see Matsushita Elec. Indus. Corp. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Moreover, ...