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CEO of H&M, Karl-Johan Persson, centre left, in the doorway of an Hennes & Mauritz department store in Stockholm, Sweden.
(Pontus Lundahl/The Associated Press)
A Multnomah County jury awarded $105,000 to a 59-year-old African-American woman who was secretly followed by video camera in the Clackamas Town Center H&M clothing store before she was swept off to a back room and falsely accused of shoplifting.
Brenda Moaning was one of hundreds of excited shoppers to flock to the opening days of the mall's H&M store in May 2011, but she was singled out by loss-prevention officers.
During a five-day trial, she claimed it was because she is black. Monday, jurors said Moaning didn’t prove racial discrimination, but at least nine of 12 agreed H&M had committed false arrest of Moaning and acted with malice. Jurors also found H&M committed battery for temporarily taking her purse.
A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury awarded Brenda Moaning (center) $105,000 for false arrest and battery while being detained in May 2011 by loss-prevention officers for H&M. She is flanked by her attorneys, Jason Kafoury (left) and Greg Kafoury.
Moaning said she had mixed feelings about the verdict, feeling vindicated on some points but disappointed that jurors found race didn’t play a role.
Moaning said store security had no reason to watch her before she was apprehended: Moaning had all necessary receipts for items in her bag, but she testified that loss-prevention officers grabbed her by the arms and pulled them behind her back, told her she looked like a "common thief” and wouldn’t let her go.
Sweden-based H&M has 3,200 stores worldwide. "How do we let them know that's not who we want to be?" said one of Moaning's attorneys, Greg Kafoury. "How do we get that message all the way back to Stockholm, Sweden? They may be in 54 different countries, but I'm sure there's one language they understand. The language of money."
One of H&M's attorneys, Katie Buxman, contended that Moaning was not grabbed or called a thief -- and that race had nothing to do with the May 13, 2011, incident.
Buxman argued a loss-prevention officer began to watch Moaning over video surveillance as she shopped for 15 minutes for several reasons: She carried an H&M shopping bag, she wore an H&M dress and one of the officers recognized her. It was Moaning’s third trip to the store in two days.
After Moaning selected some items for purchase, she waited in a long line. At the register, she told the clerk a cardigan she’d picked out was such a good buy at $5 that she wanted another. But Moaning said she didn’t want to wait again in line, so the clerk allowed her to pay for a second cardigan then pick it up before leaving the store.
Moaning did just that. Store video shows her pick up the cardigan, walk within a few feet of the clerk at the front of the line, hold the cardigan in the air and get a nod from the clerk. Moaning took the hanger off, put it down and put the cardigan in her bag as she walked out.
That’s when loss-prevention officers approached Moaning and told her she had to come with them. She was interrogated by three loss-prevention officers from H&M, SOS Security Inc. and Pacific Paramount Security Services Inc. All sides agree they had a right to do that under Oregon law.
H&M claimed it was reasonable to detain Moaning for the next 16 minutes because it took that long to sort through the six receipts she had in her bag. Moaning’s six receipts reflected some returns and new purchases she’d made.
Moaning testified that as a Portland fifth-grader in the 1960s, she was one of the first African-Americans to be bused during desegregation efforts from her predominantly black school, now known as King Elementary School, to a predominantly white school, Whitaker Elementary School.
“I was taught we were all the same,” Moaning said. Since the 2011 encounter, Moaning said she’s become withdrawn. She no longer works as a foster parent or sings in her church choir. She no longer shops frequently, either.
“Now, when I do go into stores it makes me wonder, ‘OK, is a code being called because a black woman has entered the store?'” Moaning said. “I feel like I’m being watched.”
H&M attorney Buxman highlighted the testimony of store employees and loss-prevention officers who said Moaning was swearing, yelling or praising Jesus that she had a lawsuit on her hands while she was being detained.
“You had a lawsuit on your mind from the very beginning, didn’t you?” Buxman asked.
“Not at all,” Moaning said.
“... You felt like you’d hit the lottery?” Buxman asked.
“No,” Moaning said.
Jurors deliberated for nearly six hours before reaching the verdict. Afterward, half a dozen talked about their deliberations with attorneys.
They said they timed how long it took them to go through Moaning’s six receipts -- and match them with the items in her bag -- to make sure she’d paid for everything. In less than three minutes, they were done. Loss-prevention officers took more than five times as long, before letting Moaning go.
One juror said testimony that Moaning was yelling didn’t pan out. Video outside the interrogation room shows one employee putting her ear close to the door, apparently in order to hear what was going on inside.
Another juror said he thought loss-prevention officers should be more courteous -- approaching suspected shoplifters with a little more of the mindset that they’re “innocent until proven guilty.”
-- Aimee Green