Legal Question in Criminal Law in Colorado

hi there.. on October this year I was accused of shop lifting at my local walmart.. I was 5 months pregnant then, I had gathered my items went to the self check out.. thought that I had scanned everything, payed, .. the security stopped me on my out checked my things and recipes and a few things didn't scan random things like a pumpkin carver for .97, a jar of artichoke hearts, all together the items totaled 37$. after the fact went back and purchased the things they said I didn't the first time cause I didn't mean to not purchase them. I wasn't arrested but had the police called got a ticket.. called my lawyer.. my charges are suspended for a year with no other instances.. payed 85$ court fine and cost. Received a letter int he mail from some attorney in NY. stating that under Colorado rev.stat.ann. 13-21-107.5 that I owe them $250.00 says nothing about it being a fine but that I must pay it within 7 days from the letter or walmart may consider further action to enforce its rights under this law.

First I looked up this stature and I didn't find anything about a law.. do I have to pay this? since I already payed the courts here and all the merchandise was payed for and my case was dropped.


Asked on 12/08/15, 11:40 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Damon Cassens Waters, Kubik, and Cassens

It is a separate civil penalty. Shopkeepers may seek a penalty of 3x the amount of goods, or $250.00, whichever is larger.

Failure to pay can lead to a civil suit.

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Answered on 12/08/15, 12:21 pm
Stephen Harkess Colorado Legal Solutions

As noted by Mr. Cassens, Colorado law (like the law of most states) allows Walmart to sue you for the civil penalty. However, you should probably just ignore the demand. I have yet to see Walmart actually spend the money required to sue. The statute does not allow recovery of attorney fees and it is highly unlikely that Walmart will actually pay a lawyer to sue you for a civil recovery of "up to" $250.

The odds are that when Walmart "considers further action to enforce its rights" it will realize that it would cost more to sue you than they are likely to collect.

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Answered on 12/08/15, 2:17 pm


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