Walmart ordered to pay woman $2.1 million after falsely accusing her of shoplifting

An Alabama woman who says she was falsely arrested by Walmart for shoplifting and then later threatened by the company has been awarded $2.1 million in damages, AL.com reports.

In her lawsuit, Lesleigh Nurse said she was accused of stealing items she had already paid for at the store back in 2016. According to her, she was using the self-checkout system when it froze, and security guards didn't believe her explanation.

When her case was dismissed a year later, a Florida law firm began sending her letters threatening a civil suit if she didn’t pay $200 as a settlement -- an amount she says was more than the items she bought.

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According to her, she wasn't the only one receiving those letters.

“The defendants have engaged in a pattern and practice of falsely accusing innocent Alabama citizens of shoplifting and thereafter attempting to collect money from the innocently accused,” the suit stated.

WKRG reports that Walmart and other major retailers routinely use such settlements in states where laws allow it, adding that that Walmart made hundreds of millions of dollars using this tactic during a two-year period.