Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

You can sue for negligence, discrimination and other causes of action. How was it left after she snatche the phone; did the initial employee confirm your permission? Was a report made of the incident? You have not spoken to their people, have you? What town was it in? Do they have Black employees?

You can sue for a lot of things. What you can get is another story. Do you think you can prove the customer service lady grabbed the phone from you because you are black, or is a jury going to believe that it was because you were using a phone that only employees are supposed to use and she didn't know you had permission? Is she white? Are you going to be able to prove that that store or Safeway in general has a discriminatory practice of letting white people use that phone, but not black people? Are there other black people who they have done this too? If not, all you have is a simple personal injury claim. Will the doctors at the emergency room testify that you actually needed emergency care for your injuries? Do you have proof that the lady snatching the phone from you caused the injuries? How did taking the phone from you cause hearing loss? Did you lose income from the injury; time off work? Did you have to pay for a lot of medical care? Generally juries, IF they believe this incident caused you to lose income or have to pay out money, will award up to 3 times your out of pocket losses. So unless you have big out of pocket losses/costs, or you can prove that this is part of a standing practice or policy of discrimination in public accommodations, you're not looking at a big jury award. Rude behavior by employees, even of of a big company, is not a winning lottery ticket.