Legal Question in Business Law in California

Probably not.....credit cards remain the property of the issuer, and can be seized by the issuer or a merchant acting as the issuer's agent for violations of the agreement between the issuer and cardholder. When the card has the holder's picture on it, a store clerk can easily see that it is being presented by someone else, and in the interest of preventing fraud the clerk is probably under instructions to keep the card. I would try having your parents call the store management to explain the situation. Perhaps they will mail the card back to your parents' address. This sometimes works with cards left behind accidentally at restaurants, etc. Another possibility is to have the card cancelled, the account closed, and a new one issued (by mail) with a different card number.