Black shoppers sue Toys 'R' Us for discrimination

[Midnight Mike]

Black shoppers sue Toys 'R' Us for discrimination

Two black shoppers have sued Toys "R" Us saying they were subjected to racial discrimination and unjustified scrutiny at a store in New York.

Patricia Drayton and Valerie Kirk said in the lawsuit that the store in The Bronx, a borough of New York City, discriminated against them by asking them to show their sales receipts. The suit was filed in Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.

Drayton said in the lawsuit that she was stopped by a security guard at the door of the store and asked to show her receipt. After refusing to do so, she was made to wait while the employee checked with a cashier to see if she had purchased the merchandise, the lawsuit said.

According to court documents, Kirk was told by a man working at the story that Toys "R" Us's policy required that she show her receipt to him prior to leaving the story. Kirk said in the suit that she refused to comply and was banned from shopping there.

The lawsuit said black shoppers are subjected to compulsory inspection of their sales receipts while white shoppers are not.

The women are asking the court to give the suit class action status to represent all black shoppers who have been subjected to the same procedures by Toys "R" Us.

Metro One, which provides loss prevention services to retail stores, and several people employed by the two companies are also being sued by the women.

They are seeking compensatory and punitive damages of at least $200 million each on behalf of the class.

Representatives for Toys "R" Us and Metro One were not available for comment.

Toys "R" Us, the country's second-largest toy retailer, is owned by a consortium that includes Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust.

The company still reports its financial performance because some of its bonds are publicly traded.

[hiss srq]

Oh come on now! Lets be realistic. Next it is going to be Wal Mart. Good god! People, give the race card a rest. Put you lawyers phone number back in your wallet already.

[moose135]

If everyone leaving the store has to show a receipt, that's fine. When the security guy picks only certain people to show a receipt, that's asking for trouble, unless you can clearly show that he wasn't targeting particular people/groups. If he lets white customers walk out and stops only blacks, that's a lawsuit even I could win.

[Midnight Mike]

Depends what area of the Bronx, most of the customers could be black? Are they saying they check receipts because all customers are black?

[USAF Pilot 07]

Sounds like a "get rich quick" scheme to me...

If this was the Toys-R-Us I'm thinking about in Bay Plaza, then I know for a fact that the majority of shoppers there are black and/or hispanic.

This lawsuit should be squashed. All Toys-R-Us has to do is show video footage of them checking black, white and hispanic peoples' receipts on a consistent basis (which I believe they do).

[nwafan20]

...I'm white, I have been asked to show my receipt at several stores before... Whats the big deal? You don't see me pursuing 200 million in damages.... Damages for what? They were asked to show a receipt, how is that worth $200,000,000 each????

[hiss srq]

They just want to put new grills in their mouth and go uhhh nah nah nah nah y'all. Thats all.

[Tom_Turner]

Sounds to me like the cost of doing business in this neighborhood is about to go up - way up just in the costs of bad publicity alone now.

If I was the store owner, I'd be tempted to just close the store.

I really wouldn't want to be in the stores' predicament right now. This is the borough where the kids can go to school with guns because the security guard can be liable for not stopping and searching EVERY "youth" while entering the premises. One security guard found a gun on a kid after noticing a "bulge" - and guess who got in trouble?

This was (last I knew) the most expensive (or one of the most expensive) parts of the country to rent a car. The costs of the crime is passed onto the consumers there. This practice as well is deemed problematic, and not even sure if Hertz or Avis play ball there anymore.

[PHL Approach]

The lawsuit said black shoppers are subjected to compulsory inspection of their sales receipts while white shoppers are not.


Uhhhh No.. I get stopped every time I leave a bestbuy.

[hiss srq]

[quote="Midnight Mike":49158]
The lawsuit said black shoppers are subjected to compulsory inspection of their sales receipts while white shoppers are not.


Uhhhh No.. I get stopped every time I leave a bestbuy.[/quote:49158]

Can you blame them though? ;)

[Mellyrose]

They just want to put new grills in their mouth and go uhhh nah nah nah nah y'all. Thats all.

Um, that wasn't racist or anything. :roll:

[emshighway]

I perfer We-B-Toys better.

[hiss srq]

They just want to put new grills in their mouth and go uhhh nah nah nah nah y'all. Thats all.

Um, that wasn't racist or anything. :roll:
I just figured I would toss it out there. They go shopping in a high crime area and than they flip about getting searched? Come on now, it is the get rick quick plan. It is nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with the lazyness of people these days and the lawsuit happy nature of the USA. Companies will do what they must to protect their reve nues and I agree. The race card needs to be put back in the wallet. If the shoe fits wear it.

[T-Bird76]

Sounds like a "get rich quick" scheme to me...

If this was the Toys-R-Us I'm thinking about in Bay Plaza, then I know for a fact that the majority of shoppers there are black and/or hispanic.

This lawsuit should be squashed. All Toys-R-Us has to do is show video footage of them checking black, white and hispanic peoples' receipts on a consistent basis (which I believe they do).

You're exactly right, these people are stupid. The front doors of this store are certainly monitored I'm sure so Toys-R-Us should have a fine defense.

[Mellyrose]

[quote="hiss srq":3bf8e]They just want to put new grills in their mouth and go uhhh nah nah nah nah y'all. Thats all.

Um, that wasn't racist or anything. :roll:
I just figured I would toss it out there. They go shopping in a high crime area and than they flip about getting searched? Come on now, it is the get rick quick plan. It is nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with the lazyness of people these days and the lawsuit happy nature of the USA. Companies will do what they must to protect their reve nues and I agree. The race card needs to be put back in the wallet. If the shoe fits wear it.[/quote:3bf8e]

Yes, but you presented it in an extremely stereotypical manner, that's all.

[liagalinnyc]

I perfer We-B-Toys better.

HA. Best comment. ur the winner. :)



Wanna hear the not-so-pretty-truth? Toys-R-Us are in the minority. MOST major mid-level retailers would not have a loss prevetion method as blatent or easy to f* up. Earlier comment was right, if a video clip shows 1 or 2 white customers passing...no matter the circumstance accident/racial targeting/human error/WHATEVER, they're screwed for 2 or 4 hundred million $.

Compare that to the loss of a $49.99 video game here or there by NOT screening the customers... and the situation has a different bottom line perspective.

It's a balencing act. For Best Buy, the potential $500 camera slipping out multiple times a day in multiple locations can add up quickly... but when the product is a $24.50 polo at gap, or a $10 cd at Starbucks... its just not worth the potential lawsuit.

So they manage their loss. By increasing your prices. By decreasing employee hours and benefits.

And for anyone buying into the idea that theft is a problem only in low-income or minority areas... you are being willfully ignorant to facts out there. Stores in middle-america upper middle class areas are "high risk" just as often as those in urban centers. Ah, and that "Louis Vuitton" bag your girlfriend carries that you got for her in Chinatown? It hurts LVHM's bottom line just as much as the iPod someone lifted out of the Apple Store.

Be careful with the low-blows and the quick assumptions.

I'd say thats where this whole thing started.
Maybe the security guard made an unfair assumption.
Maybe the shopper made an unfair assumption.

The point is.... there are a lot of jackasses out there. Don't be one of them.

[liagalinnyc]

One last bit....

"why do stores even stay open in places like that?"

Because they are cash cows. The highest volume retail area in Brooklyn? Kings Plaza. FYI.