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Smith v. Wal-Mart Stores E. LP

The trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the defendant store on its employee's false imprisonment claim based on her warrantless arrest by police for allegedly acting in concert with two men who stole merchandise, since questions of fact remained as to whether the defendant procured the arrest and whether the arrest was unlawful in that it did not occur under one or more of the exigent circumstances set forth in O.C.G.A. § 17-4-20 subsection a 2.

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In November 2010, plaintiff Felicia Smith was showing a male customer some iPods in the Macon Wal-Mart where she was working when another man stole a number of the devices from the case Smith had left open. A few weeks later, Smith’s supervisors ushered her into a back office at the store, showed her a videotape of the incident, and accused her of acting in concert with the thieves. Smith denied these accusations. After Wal-Mart referred the matter to the Macon police, Smith voluntarily went to a precinct, where she was arrested on 14 counts of fiduciary theft and one count of making a false statement. After the charges were dropped, Smith brought the instant action for false arrest and false imprisonment against Wal-Mart. On appeal from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Wal-Mart, Smith argues that genuine issues of material fact remain as to her claims. We agree as to her claim for false imprisonment arising from her arrest and therefore reverse in part.

To prevail at summary judgment under OCGA § 9-11-56, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. . . . The burden on the moving party may be discharged by pointing out by reference to the affidavits, depositions and other documents in the record that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case. If the moving party discharges this burden, the nonmoving party cannot rest on its pleadings, but rather must point to specific evidence giving rise to a triable issue.

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