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But she wasn’t paying in counterfeit money. She was paying in real US currency

Right, someone looked at the bills, made the false conclusion that they were counterfeit, and so the store's suspicion turned out to be false. Now, just how stupid the clerk or manager were (certainly ripping the bills is dumb), and whether either should get sanctioned or lose their jobs for not handling this better is a separate question from whether the customer suffered any harm which would be deserving of a large legal settlement.

Assuming the store did have the right to detain and investigate based on a suspected crime does not mean that they always must be correct in their suspicions to avoid liability for detention.

Their primary liability, and an actual false arrest, would have occurred if they had requested, and the officer had obliged, that the customer be arrested and charged based on their determiniation that the bills were counterfeit. Instead, the officer was asked to check the bills, which essentially meant he was aiding in their investigation, after which no arrest was made, and the customer was returned her money.

Yes, she should probably be given some SMALL amount to compensate for her time, and for the aggravation caused by the stupidity of the store's management and employees. I just don't see anything here to justify anything more than a few hundred dollars extra.

Here's another way of looking at this - suppose the clerk and manager worked for a Mom and Pop. Shoould the owners, Mom and Pop, who were away at the time, be bankrupted by a large award simply because the manager and clerk misread the bills and detained her for two hours?

The amount which this lady deserves for her whatever aggravation or inconventience she suffered, everything else being equal, should not change based on whether she was shopping at Walmart or at a Mom/Pop store. So if you're defending a large award in this case, then you should be ready to bankrupt any Mom/Pop store for the same reason.

I don’t think those Walmart employees would have gotten away with this with a man. I think they took advantage of the fact that she was a woman to puff themselves up and exercise their petty power.

Who in the civilized world isn’t aware of the computerized metal strip in a 100 dollar bill? How conceited and arrogant is it to tear up a persons money because you think you have the super power of counterfeit detecting vision, while the rest of the world needs the help of proper tools to reach this conclusion? And speaking of the counterfeit detecting pen, how is it a trained Walmart employee *supposedly* is completely ignorant of its use and every convenience store clerk fresh off the boat from Bangladesh isn’t? One way or another, there’s way more to this story.

And I think you’re being just a bit flippant and dismissive about this woman’s damages.

For example, I’m a 6’ 265# black belt who benches 520# freeweight, and if I choose to detain you, once my hand touches your shoulder it’s statistically unlikely you’re going to be able to do a thing about it.

And as I’m detaining you by force, I’m proudly telling all passersby that I’ve just caught a thief, while absolutely ignoring your protests and the proof positive right in my hand that I’m telling a lie.

After hours of being publicly violated, degraded and defamed in this manner, finally it requires the police to force me to let you go, and I make sure to let you know that I don’t believe them either, that you’re still a thief, and I shove your torn bills and a couple 100 dollars at you just because I’m still right, you’re still a thieving dirtbag, and I’m just moving you along because I have better things to do with my time.

Now tell me, are you satisfied?

And if not, is the only reason the woman in this scenario should be satisfied, is because she’s a woman, and Walmart is a place that’s just so special, that violating a woman in this manner, in public, should be shuffled under the rug to protect their good name.

Remember, you’re in the court of common sense and I think the bullshyte detectors are turned up to maximum at this point.

Prosecution rests ;^)