Can I sue for harassment?
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Can I sue for harassment?
I was at Krystal’s in Florence last night and the cashier was being really rude the whole time. We had a few words and as I grabbed my food and walked out the cashier, one other employee and a manager came running out after me threatining to beat me up. My mom called the manager and she told her to bring her white a up there and she’d beat her and me up. We also asked for the corporate number and the manager said there wasn’t one. Is there anything that can be done? And if so, what do I need to do?
Asked on November 18, 2016 under Criminal Law, Mississippi
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
No, you can't sue the store for this.
First, the only behavior that may be something that could be sued for is the threats of violence, since there is no law saying that one person cannot be as rude as he or she likes to another person, so the rudeness, words exchanged, etc., are simply not anything that could be sued over.
Threats of violence are against the law. But a store or other employer is *not* liable for the criminal acts of its employees, like threats of violence, because such acts are not part of their job or what they are hired to do; criminal acts are outside the scope of employment.
In theory you could sue the employees who threatened you, but you can only recover compensation (money) equivalent to your injury--but you were not injured. Therefore while you could sue and a court would tell you that you were in the right, you would not receive any money for it, because you evidently did not suffer any injury.
You could file a police report about their threats. And you obviously should not go to that store again.
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