Fears v. Newman Mercantile Company

Appellant sued respondents in the Circuit Court of Jasper County for $15,000 compensatory damages and $10,000 punitive damages, for false imprisonment on a charge.of shoplifting, to-wit, stealing a number of gloves from the store of the respondent Newman Mercantile Company in Joplin. The respondents True and Robinson were, respectively, a clerk and the auditor in said store, and the respondent Bradshaw was the policeman who arrested appellant. On respondents’ several requests at the close of appellant’s case, the trial court gave peremptory instructions to the jury to find for them. Appellant…