Virginia Gentles v. Target Corp

Obituary for Graham Gentles

August 30, 1991 - July 18, 2014

Monrovia, California | Age 22

Loving Son

This is only the latest example of how bad a chain that Target is and this case will be followed on this and other of my blog sites, check back for additional details as available.

The case of Virginia Gentles v. Target Corp (BC 570020) was filed 1/22/15 regarding a July 2014 incident where actions by Target employees at their Pasadena store (Target Store T-0883, 777 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101-2104) subsequently resulted in the suicide of a discharged Target cashier.

While the litigation starts in the 'Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles' it will be moved to the 9th Circuit of the U.S. District Court due to diversity of citizenship as Target HQ is in Minnesota. The 9th Circuit consists of 7 Western States and so far this year 9 suits involving Target have been filed, last year there were 105.

In addition to Target Corp, the individual defendants are Anthony Mims, the Pasadena store team leader, andCharles Godinez, the store's executive team leader for asset protection.

When I pull the filing from the Federal court site I will add it to my blog at http://gentlesvtarget.blogspot.com/. As I have done with other suits, I will add a separate blog to contain the filing as it will be far to large to add to this site.

The current claim is for unspecified monetary damages and alleged in part:
Count 1 - False Imprisonment
Count 2 - Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Count 3 - Negligence

Target is frequently sued and they do not settle cases, they let them all go to trial. Some they win some they lose. When they lose they appeal. These cases drag on for years and this will be no exception.

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UPDATE:

The incident continues to be reported, usually the original story is simply quoted but ABC Eyewitness News 7 in LA has a bit more info than most and they say in part:

"He said, 'Mom, I've never stolen,'" Virginia Gentles recalled. "He said, 'They did the walk of shame, I had to do the walk of shame. But they only do that when people steal and I've never stolen a thing.'"

The complaint alleges that an argument between Graham Gentles and a coworker at a bar outside of work hours may have prompted the incident. The suit says it's believed that allegations made by the coworker led to store management calling for Gentles' arrest and "walk of shame."

According to the complaint, the so-called "walk of shame" has happened on numerous occasions to employees who were suspected of stealing.

"One of the primary purposes of this lawsuit is that Target stops the policy immediately [and] recognizes the harm that it could do," said McNicholas.

See their full report at:
http://abc7.com/news/lawsuit-pasadena-target-employee-killed-self-a...