California Penal Code § 490.5– Civil Demand Letters in Shoplifting Cases

California Penal Code § 490.5 deals with civil demand letters in shoplifting cases. A civil demand letter asks for payment for any losses the retailer incurred because of a person’s alleged shoplifting. The law authorizes retailers to demand damages of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), plus costs from the alleged shoplifter. Consequently, the amount of money requested in a civil demand letter can often greatly exceed the value of the items that were attempted to be taken or were taken.  

The retailer can seek the cost of the item someone allegedly took or attempted to take, the cost of any damage to merchandise that occurred, and the expense of store employees who handled the alleged shoplifting. To further complicate this matter, the retailers may seek the costs of legal fees if they must resort to civil legal action to enforce payment of the civil demand letter, which means that they may seek recovery of the legal costs of having to sue you and the costs of the lawyer representing them in the civil legal action against you.

People accused of shoplifting should contact a criminal defense attorney, such as those at Chastaine Jones, as soon as possible after being accused of any crime. Making statements to the police or even store employees can be harmful to you and have unforeseen consequences. Any statement that is made can be used against you to establish intent for the purposes of legal prosecution and could result in you being charged with a more serious offense such as PC § 459 Burglary. Those accused of a crime attempting to explain their behavior or trying to cooperate can often leave them in a much worse legal situation than they would have otherwise had they made no statements. 

Accordingly, paying the civil demand letter may be viewed as an admission of guilt for the underlying offense, and it may be used against you in a separate criminal law case. Notably, a payment of a civil demand letter does not prevent a store from subsequently filing criminal charges with the police or suing the individual in a civil lawsuit. 

Further, if the alleged shoplifter is a minor at the time of the alleged theft, then their guardians/parents shall be jointly and severally liable to the retailer along with you. A criminal defense attorney may be able to assist you by contacting the store to help ensure that they do not seek criminal charges against the individual, or possibly negotiate a lower payment amount.  

Simply ignoring the civil demand letter is often not an option either as not responding and not making payment could result in the retailer filing a small claims court action against the individual in civil court. Once again, the alleged shoplifter may be liable for the costs and legal fees associated with enforcing recovery of the money in a civil court. 

In conclusion, if you have been accused of shoplifting or theft of any kind, you should contact a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible to help protect your rights. Taking action without a complete understanding of the legal system and proper legal counsel can be detrimental to a person’s interests. It may result in more significant penalties in the long run.