[inkked]

I dropped a large sum of cash in Walmart parking lot next to my rental car. A good samaritan found it and tried to turn it in

[Curlyben]

And?
What is your course of action exactly ?

[samcreed]

Is that all of your question? Did Walmart turn down the money? What happened?
You can sue anyone for anything, almost. However, winning is another story. If you know what you want to say, then ask a lawyer. You can probably find one that will not charge you anything, unless you win the case. Good luck.

[inkked]

I dropped a large sum of cash in Walmart parking lot next to my rental car. A good samaritan found it and tried to "turn it in" at the customer service desk. The employee at customer service refused to take the money, but took the samaritans info and her story including the amount of money and the detail that it was found next to a red car. She would not review the tape to see who dropped the money so that positive id could be verified of who dropped the money. She did however promise to give the samaritans info to the person who claimed the $ and had the proper key details to back up their story. Someone that same day called the samaritan with the correct information and knew the exact dollar amount that was found. I don't even know how much it was, my mom died a few days ago and I am the eldest surviving heir. My stepdad gave me 2000 dollars to help settle her bills and affairs and I also sold my truck for 3500 dollars to pay for a nice funeral for her. I had a large chunk of cash that I've been paying bills with for 5 days. I believe there was between 1700 and 2500 left in 50's 100's and 20's.
The only two people that knew the exact number found was the samaritan and the customer service employee. Somehow this thief, gained knowledge of the exact amount, the color of the car it was found by and the approximate time it was lost. The samaritan I don't think set this up because she could have walked away with the money from the start, its not illegal to pocket money you find on the ground. So the only other logical conclusion is that the walmart employee fraudulently gave this info to an accomplice that went and stole my inheritance/funeral funds. Is walmart negligent for this theft because their cameras could have been used to positively verify I dropped the money and the employee used her position to facilitate this theft?

[Curlyben]

In short NO, Walmart are NOT liable for your lose.
They do not "police" their parking lots.

[ScottGem]

As samcreed said you can sue anyone over anything. But your chances of winning this are nil. Walmart had no responsibility to protect you from your carelessness.

You could, however, file police charges against the customer service person.

[joypulv]

I wrote a long reply that got NUKED when threads were merged, grr.
Anyway, your premise that only 2 people knew is flawed.
I see 3 equal possibilities right off the bat:
The service rep,
Someone who overheard the conversation between her and the samaritan,
Someone who heard first, second, hand etc from the samaritan when she went home and told the story.

There are even lesser ones, such as a change of heart by the samaritan.

There's also the fact that a video of you dropping 'something' by a red car is not substantial enough for court. Just because it happened the same day by a red car is too open to claims of coincidence.

And to go really far out (as court cases can do), it could be claimed that you saw someone else drop a wad of cash, saw the samaritan pick it up by a red car, so you dropped a bundle of paper next to your red car, just so you could go claim it because you would be on video.

And so on...

[dontknownuthin]

Yeah, I think the course to take is to file charges against the person who claimed the money and the customer service person. That person apparently told a friend the details so they could claim the money, so they stole it. They probably won't pay it back - it's likely spent long ago - but could face theft charges and may agree to pay it back to avoid criminal charges. I'd go to the police with what you know. No suit against wallmart though - the negligent party was you, when you dropped your money in a parking lot carelessly.

[joypulv]

OP can't 'file (criminal) charges' - only the DA can, and there's scant chance of that.
OP can file civil charges, paying a lawyer, and losing.

[dontknownuthin]

OP can't 'file (criminal) charges' - only the DA can, and there's scant chance of that.
OP can file civil charges, paying a lawyer, and losing.

Good point - I should have said he should file a police report, not charges. Thanks for the correction! I doubt much will come of it though, either.

[JudyKayTee]

The Police will undoubtedly take a report. Will the Police file charges? I doubt it. That is Walmart policy, by the way. Should the OP have asked to speak to a Manager? Yes. Could a Manager have overruled policy or at least verified policy? Yes, and the Manager would have been a lot more interested than a person at customer service.

I found a ring in a WM parking lot (I think I posted about it) some time ago - WM would not take the ring. Customer Service took a report and told me to notify the Police, which is where I turned it in. They would not take possession of/responsibility for the ring.

I see other people knowing about this - every person the OP told about it, every WM employee who heard about it.

I'd be curious in an investigative sense how the OP knows the person who claimed the money knew the exact amount. In my experience once the lost has been claimed no information is given to anyone else.

And, yes, WM doesn't guard/police its parking lot. This is just one of the reasons.

Would viewing the surveillance tape have made a difference? Hard to say - the whole parking lot isn't taped, the tapes are grainy and from a distance, did OP ask to see the tape at the time?

How did OP get the "good samaritan" information? Again, once the lost is claimed WM is out of the picture and no information is given.

[Fr_Chuck]

And of course no one has mentioned that I saw, the real issue here, that the OP was careless enough with that large amount of money to "drop it"

It is not walmarts requirement to take the money and since there was no crime in you losing the money was not obligated to try to help return it. ** it was not stolen at the time you dropped it.

Your issue will be with the person who claimed it

[Wondergirl]

In my neck of the woods, an item lost or found in a parking lot is often mentioned in the local newspaper's classifieds. A found item will have a vague description and the ads continues that that the rightful owner can call a phone number and give specific details in order to claim the item.