Julia Garcia, Texas Mom, Sues Walmart After She Says Store Employees Ripped Up Her Money

[trailmonkee]

Source: Huffington Post

Two Walmart employees are in hot water after they allegedly destroyed two $100 bills when a customer tried to pay with them.

According to Court House News, Julia Garcia is suing Walmart Stores after the "humiliating ordeal" she endured at the hands of two employees who accused her of using counterfeit currency at a San

Garcia says she was Christmas shopping with her children at a [Walmart] in San Antonio in December 2010 and entered a checkout lane around 2 a.m. Garcia says she paid for her $150 purchase with a $100 bill, a $50 bill and change.
"The cashier inspected the $100 bill, turned to another cashier and had a brief discussion, and returned to her register telling the plaintiff her money was 'fake,'" the complaint states. "The cashier proceeded to rip the $100 bill in half without performing any counterfeit detection tests. The metallic strip in the $100 bill was clearly visible."

Garcia claims that a manager named Russell was then called over. Russell allegedly told her that the money was counterfeit and that she would have to wait for the police.

According to the complaint, Garcia then pulled out another $100 bill that she had in her possession. She alleges that Russell took the second bill from her and ripped it in half as well, saying that it, too, was counterfeit.

Garcia claims that Walmart made her wait at the front of the store, "in plain sight of all passing customers," until police arrived. She said she was publicly humiliated by the store's employees who told other shoppers that she had been trying to use fake currency.

Finally, two police officers arrived at the store. Upon checking the torn notes, they determined that both were legal tender.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/julia-garcia-texas-sues-walmart-accused-of-counterfeit-money_n_1882400.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[lumpy]

2. The employees should be tried for destroying legal tender.

n

[emilyg]

16. Hope they were fired.

[Lasher]

20. Not illegal in the States.

[bananas]

21. It's a felony, isn't it? nt

[Art_from_Ark]

31. The law is a bit ambiguous about that

"Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

"Defacement of currency in such a way that it is made unfit for circulation comes under the jurisdiction of the United States Secret Service. The United States Secret Service web address is www.secretservice.gov."

[alfredo]

3. I hope she wins big. That was just plain nasty of them. Assholes.

[cstanleytech]

4. "December 2010" Maybe I am missing something but if this was really so traumatic

for her why did she wait two years nearly to file a lawsuit?
Just seems, odd.

[freshwest]

9. In Texas you have a limit and she probably didn't have someone to make the case yet. And a person

Last edited Sat Sep 15, 2012, 01:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Who is forced to do their shopping in the middle of the night hasn't exactly got the best life schedule, either. It depends on circumstances. She did it within the statutory limit and they are fair game until then. I hope she prevails and the law smites their arrogant, ignorant, grandstanding asses.

[davidthegnome]

10. You're right, it is rather odd.

One possible answer is that she didn't have the resources or the connections to pursue any kind of legal action. Not knowing enough about the case, I can't say for sure.

I do know though, as a very socially awkward person... when you are humiliated in public (especially in the manner this woman must have been) it is... harder than most could imagine, to face those who witnessed it, or to risk the same happening again. Perhaps she was a shy person who was more devastated by this event than someone else would be - and even someone who was more secure, even a social butterfly, would find this very humiliating.

[lonestarnot]

14. Egg shell rule says take 'em as you get 'em.

[trailmonkee]

11. ? you never know... either way, it was totally fucked up

[cstanleytech]

15. Oh I agree and the manager should have at the very least have been demoted to

cashier (so as to familiarize themselves better with money) and Walmart should have also atleast offered her an apology for their employees screwup.

[trailmonkee]

22. seems like less to do with money than assumptions on the part of the employees

[Journeyman]

12. It could be her attorney was trying to settle with Walmart out of court . . .

and finally determined they weren't going to get satisfaction using that route and so filed suit.

[cstanleytech]

18. Good point, the article is very lacking on why it took this long to file so that could be one of the

reasons.

[siligut]

17. The way the article reads, it seems that she was encouraged by readers on Reddit

"For the record, there was zero reason for them to tear up the bill, even if it was counterfeit. There is no policy in place telling anyone to do this with counterfeit bills, and in fact, because the bills have to be turned over to investigators, the tearing up of the bill would count as destroying evidence. Just wanted to point that out. If the employees actually did what the report says they did, then they were idiots on top of being asshats," said user "this_isnt_happening."

So while she was traumatized, maybe she didn't know she had a case.

[unblock]

24. filing quickly is not often a good strategy.

you want to take the time to build a case, gather witnesses and evidence, and assess the damage. especially for emotional damages, this might take time to assess and document.

hypothetically, say 18 months after the incident, a client walks into her workplace, recognizes her, and tells her boss about the incident, and the boss fires her, can't have clients thinking we might have a counterfeiter on staff.

better for that sort of thing to come out before settling with wal-mart.

[valerief]

40. She may have been afraid of retaliation from the asshole clerks if she filed immediately.

Maybe she's moved and feels safe enough now to sue.

All the crazy people have all the guns today.

[KamaAina]

5. She can get them back

using whichever half is over 50% of the original.

And a hell of a lot more by suing the bastards!

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. Not anymore, you have to have the whole serial number n/t

[muntrv]

6. The douchebaggery is trickling down from the Waltons to these employees.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Her name is "Julia Garcia". This is in Texas. Connect the dots.

[emilyg]

19. Since she used cash - I doubt

they knew her name.

[Loudestlib]

23. They don't care about the name, they care about the face.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

26. I've been looking for a picture of her.

Could very well be those idiots figured she didn't LOOK like someone who would have hundred dollar bills on her.

[CreekDog]

28. we know, we know, it's not racism unless it's against Christian Anglos

[frylock]

29. smh

[sammytko]

43. It's San Antonio - about 60 or more percent Hispanic.

The Walmart workers were probably Hispanic also.

[sammytko]

44. Looked up the location from the court document.

8500 jones maltsBerger rd. it is in a part of the city where the percentage of hispanic population decreases.

[Simeon Salus]

13. I hope it's not too snarky to say

but if they made a movie about somebody ripping up two $100 bills and put it on YouTube, Republicans might riot...

Seems like we spend a lot more time worshiping the mighty dollar, compared to when I was younger.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

27. I have three words guaranteed to flip out a Right Winger,...

"It's only money".

Remember when that used to be used to remember what was really important?

They used to say that in muggings/robberies. "It's only money, it's not worth your life".

[SoapBox]

25. I've never stepped foot in any Walmart businesses

and never will.

[sakabatou]

30. +1

[eShirl]

33. Well aren't you special.

[emilyg]

42. How nice for you. I go

to Walmart to stretch my SS.

[whistler162]

46. Why with your command of the English language

you would fit well with your prejudged view of people who shop there!

It is "I've never set foot in any Walmart businesses"

[Art_from_Ark]

32. There is no metallic strip in $100 bills

"The cashier proceeded to rip the $100 bill in half without performing any counterfeit detection tests. The metallic strip in the $100 bill was clearly visible."

It is actually a plastic strip that is very weakly magnetic. Hold it up to the light and look at it with a magnifying glass-- it should read USA 100, then the same upside down, in an alternating pattern.

The watermark on the redesigned notes should be clearly visible. Hold the note up to the light, and on the right side there should be a watermark portrait of Franklin.

There should also be tiny colored fibers in the paper (which is actually a kind of linen), and the 100 in the lower right corner should change color as you tilt the bill.

[marble falls]

36. Being magnetic means there is some sort of ferrous metal in there somewhere.

[Art_from_Ark]

41. It may contain a miniscule amount of metal

but it is 99.99% plastic (mylar). I would not call that "metallic".

[DeSwiss]

34. The true but unspoken irony here......

....is that an employee, and even a manager of the largest chain-store in the world, doesn't know what a real $50 or $100 bill looks like. Maybe Walmart should send some of their tight-fisted executives in to train the employees in recognizing the higher denomination bills.

- Apparently they're the only ones who're getting them...........

K&R

[Politicalboi]

35. I wonder if WalMart will pay her

All in 100's.

[DeSwiss]

45. Sally Brown takes what's coming to her in $10s and $20s......

[MatthewStLouis]

37. The employees were jack arses, but why did she pull out another bill?

I'd learn pretty fast after that first one was ripped in half.

I'm not sure I'd agree this warrants a lawsuit either, as much as I hate Wal-of-China-Mart.

[tjdee]

38. Probably handed it all at once.

If I were paying for something that cost 40 bucks, I'd hand the cashier two 20 dollar bills at once.....

[thesquanderer]

39. the second hundred dollar bill

She probably just wanted to pay and get out of there, and was willing to do whatever she thought might work, even if it cost her an extra hundred.

[Ash_F]

47. If you work for walmart, you are probably not used to seeing 100$ bills

[progressoid]

48. Reason #2847 to not shop at Walmart.