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Buy stuff at Best Buy with 2 dollar bills , get arrested

Oh, boy ! I'd OWN that feckin' store, the manager, the assistant mgr, the cashier, the cops...after My lawyers, Dewey, Cheatham & Howe, got thru w/'em...-Sandy G.
 
If I read the story right, what are you going to sue BB for? Sure they were suscpicious of legal tender but it was the cop that handcuffed the guy on the spot for no decent reason.

I dislike BB as much as the next guy but if hiring ignorant staff is cause for litigation then I'd better up my D & O insurance.
 
DingusBoy said:
If I read the story right, what are you going to sue BB for? Sure they were suscpicious of legal tender but it was the cop that handcuffed the guy on the spot for no decent reason.
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Did Best buy have legal cause to threaten the customer about calling the police?

If the issue was an unpaid bill - that is a matter for the civil courts npt a criminal matter. Also BB would not have known the customer would be using $2 bills so it was still a "bill unpaid: matter. Not theft or counterfieting. BestBuy overstepped it's authority by choosing an inappropriate method to handle a dispute.

As a direct result (vicarious liability) the police became involved and the mess ensued.

Reasonably you can argue that Bestbuyis at least 50% responsioble for the mess and a jusry may agree.

that's my take anyways.
 
If you in any way detain someone it is making a citizens arrest, so the store and the cops can be sued for false arrest.

Also the store has to take $2 bills whether they want to or not. The fact that they created any kind of a stink probably helps with making them culpable to the false arrest. Marking everyone of those bills is a form of harrasment because of the dollar amount of the bills. I know it is not illegal to do so, and that in itself isn't cause for litigation, but it should help make a case.
 
Well here is one person who does not buy at Walmart, who looks for the union label and most especially looks for "Made in America" and that's North Americe. And when I get a service person on the phone I always ask "Where are you located?". What price shoppers don't seem to realize is that you get what you pay for. When the Chinese phone blew up - and 95% are made there regardless of the name on the box - I had to look at everyone in the store until I found a Panasonic made in Mexico.
 
Its not false arrest. The police departmen just detained him, which is not against the law. I suppose he might win a lawsuit for lost time if he could prove he lost money over the detention.. Otherwise, I don't see a windfall for him. Although I didnt stay at Holiday Inn and could be very,very wrong.
 
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I'm with the "sue them" boys. There was absolutely no reason for the treatment he received. If he had the name of whoever told him the install was a comp, he should have told BB to talk their employee; that's who gave him the free pass and that's BB's problem, not his.

I'd sue the **** out of everybody in sight, Best Buy, the manager, the cashier, the Baltimore PD, and let the judge sort it out. Then I'd eat a Snickers, stay at a Holiday Inn Express, hit the talk show route, write a book, and make a TV movie, and retire to a life of luxury.

I'd also return the car stereo

Ooopps, Sorry DaWoofer; didn't read all the posts, so I didn't see you played the Holiday Inn card already. But it seems to me being escorted out in manacles and chains is a bit more than being "detained"
 
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Oh, given any halfway-sympathetic jury, he's looking at a healthy sum... if for nothing else, for the PUBLIC HUMILIATION he's endured over this. And for no other reason, than the sheer IGNORNCE and STUPIDITY of the Best Buy people. If they weren't intelligent enough to know that a $2 bill is LEGAL CURRENCY, they don't deserve any sympathy from a jury or anyone else... ignorance of the law, is NO EXCUSE...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
TrexT said:
Those $2 bills were actually collectors items and worth more than face value.
He should sue the $@#@ out of best buy and the police. And what the hell does 9/11 have to do with paying a debt in legal tender?!!?!?!

"For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world.""
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Didn't you know terrorist are using the 2 dollars bills and going to the track to bet and thus helping fund terrorism. Plus they look neat.
 
GordonW said:
Oh, given any halfway-sympathetic jury, he's looking at a healthy sum... if for nothing else, for the PUBLIC HUMILIATION he's endured over this. And for no other reason, than the sheer IGNORNCE and STUPIDITY of the Best Buy people. If they weren't intelligent enough to know that a $2 bill is LEGAL CURRENCY, they don't deserve any sympathy from a jury or anyone else... ignorance of the law, is NO EXCUSE...

Regards,
Gordon.
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True if one moron there had brain one they could have called up ANY bank and asked if 2 dollars bills were genuine and even asked in re to serial number. Holy **** the serial numbers ran in sequential order. They usually do when you buy a bundle. I'd sue for false arrest, detainment, humiliation,etc,etc. Those BB staff were idiots at best.
 
If you are held against your will it is arrest. I don't think it matters much that they didn't book him. I am pretty sure that you don't have to go to the police station unless you are under arrest if you don't want to. If you are not under arrest you don't have to go anywhere.

If Best Buy didn't allow him to leave while waiting for the police to arrive, that is a citizen's arrest. If they detained him with stall tactics while waiting for the police, a good lawyer can at least plead that it is a form of arrest.

No matter what, if the guy was shackled, cuffed and stuffed in a car, he sure as anything was arrested.

I think the fact that he was cooperative and then arrested makes at least the police culpable, if not the store that caused it too.

I bet the ambulance chasers are crawling out of the woodwork trying to get this guy as a client.

He might choose not to sue unless he plans on moving. I wouldn't want a police force pissed of at me.
 
lets say the guy paid with a $100 and a $50 dollar bill. he recieves a $2 bill as part of his change, and files a complaint with the police. what do you think would happen then? would the teller or store manager be "detained" in hand cuffs and leg irons, and held at the police station until the matter is resolved? without question his rights were infringed upon, his freedom withheld. im sorry but, the idea that this is not significant really pisses me off, and i think anyone who doesnt think our basic freedoms and rights are not of the highest priority has entirely missed the point. wake up, get pissed, go to the window right now, put your head out and shout, "i'm mad as hell, and i'm not going to take it anymore!"
 
If this man received the receipt apon leaving the store, with the installation done, and all the apologies and such exchanged. I don't understand why he even bothered to go back to pay them. If they called me after all that and told me I owed them money, I'd of laughed at them and told them to talk to my lawyer. I'd never would of went back.
 
>Are you implying the customer is in any way responsible for this incident?

He was making a mild protest to BB. Most normal people would at least be annoyed at BB. By his action started an avalanche of events. How it played out look like a comedy on TV. It has humor unless you are personally involved. I was thinking that acting on negative thoughts can have grave consequences.
 
using legal tender to render payment cannot in any rational way be construed as protest, mild or otherwise. ingorance and stupidity on the part of BB and the police officer are to blame for this incident.
 
Protest or not, it's not an issue... in no way, did his usage of $2 bills constitute a disruption of the peace in that Best Buy store. Sure, it might have been a minor inconvenience for the clerk, but that's just "life happens".

It's the Best Buy people that violated his rights (false imprisonment), and at the same time, refused to take legal tender of the United States in payment for a private debt. That makes them culpable...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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