A JUDGE has advised shopkeepers that they are free to make reasonable enquiries of suspected shoplifters. He warned shoppers to "hasten very slowly" in making claims of alleged defamation.
Judge James Carroll, in Dublin Circuit Civil Court, said the public must be taken to consent to such reasonable enquiries providing they were done quietly.
He said traders who displayed their wares in modern, open fronted shops were under a greater risk of theft.
"A shopkeeper may not place entirely on the shoulders of the public the risks he has decided to undertake for the sake of carrying on his trade. And neither may the public unreasonably grasp at every possible incident as a cause of action," said Judge Carroll.
He dismissed a £30,000 damages claim for alleged defamation by a mother who was stopped and questioned about a jacket she had under her arm after having bought and paid for two other items of clothing for her 10 year old son.
He heard she had bought the garment, her son's "Bomber" jacket, in the same store almost a year previously and had been taking care of it while her son tried on new clothes. A security man who had questioned her about it had apologised when she pointed out signs of wear on the jacket.
Judge Carroll said Mrs Catherine Sutton, of Dolphin House, Rialto, Dublin, had honestly paid for her purchases and what had happened as she left the Unique clothes shop in Dublin's Ilac Centre was "unfortunate".
A security man had asked her to "step inside please" and the judge felt it had been a perfectly reasonable request. The reasonable reaction would have been to do so. Judge Carroll said Mrs Sutton had refused and he believed it had been her attitude which created a scene.
He told Mr Hugh O'Keeffe, counsel for the shop, he was convinced that, from the first moment of enquiry, Mrs Sutton was ready to assert her rights in a claim for damages.
Claims of alleged defamation were becoming commoner and he felt a strict view must be taken of such matters. "Otherwise we are going to end up in the same appalling state as has arisen in the matter of claims for personal injuries which is mercilessly abused daily."
He dismissed Mrs Sutton's claim against Savaldake Ltd, trading as Unique. Her counsel, Mr Paul McDermott, was granted a stay on costs against his client to facilitate an appeal to the High Court.