Section 3.45 Merchants’ Statute

• Library: Tort Law 2016

D. (§3.45) Merchants’ Statute

In 1941, the Supreme Court of Missouri held that a merchant may detain a person for a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner to investigate a good faith suspicion that the person is attempting to take goods without payment. Teel v. May Dep’t Stores Co., 155 S.W.2d 74 (Mo. 1941). This common-law defense was codified by statute at § 537.125, RSMo 2000, which provides:

2. Any merchant, his agent or employee, who has reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe that a person has committed or is committing a wrongful taking of merchandise or money from a mercantile establishment, may detain such person in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable length of time for the purpose of investigating whether there has been a wrongful taking of such merchandise or money. Any such reasonable detention shall not constitute an unlawful arrest or detention, nor shall it render the merchant, his agent or employee, criminally or civilly liable to the person so detained.

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