Seth was shopping at a local music store looking for a CD, when he suddenly remembered that he had an appointment with his math professor. He pulled his calendar out of his backpack only to discover that he was late for the appointment. Seth quickly put the calendar back into his backpack and hurried out of the store. As he made his exit from the store, a security guard asked Seth to accompany him to an office at the back of the store to which he consented. Once there, in private, the guard quickly searched Seth and his backpack thinking him to be a shoplifter, but found nothing. The whole incident took less than three minutes. Which of the following is most likely to be true regarding this incident?
A) Seth has enough evidence against the store to sue them for defamation.
B) Seth has enough evidence against the store to sue them for false imprisonment, emotional distress, and battery.
C) If the store belongs to a state that allows conditional privilege to store owners, the store can stop persons it feels are shoplifting.
D) The store has no conditional privileges to stop persons it feels are shoplifting, but it is liable for punitive damages.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If the store belongs to a state that has passed statutes allowing conditional privilege to store owners, the store has conditional privilege to stop persons it feels are shoplifting as long as the owner acts in a reasonable manner and detains the suspect only for a reasonable length of time. In this scenario, the guard did not behave in an unreasonable manner and did not detain Seth for an unreasonable length of time. The store cannot be sued for false imprisonment, since false imprisonment is the intentional confinement of a person for an appreciable time without the person's consent.

Seth Was Shopping at a Local Music Store Looking for a CD