Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Paul

This case comes before us on appeal from an action for assault and battery, slander and false imprisonment. It involves as appellant The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co., Inc., the owner of the nationally known chain of A & P food stores, and as appellee John Joseph Paul, a retired police officer suffering from a recent heart condition. On the charge that one of A & P’s employees, John Parker, falsely accused the appellee of shoplifting, frisked him, and unlawfully detained him, Paul recovered $10,-000 compensatory and $30,000 punitive damages.

Still in a convalescent stage Mr. Paul, in…