False Imprisonment in Virginia
What is False Imprisonment in Virginia?
False imprisonment is an intentional restriction of a person’s freedom of movement without legal right.
A false imprisonment results from the intentional use of force, words, or acts which the person restrained is afraid to ignore or to which he reasonably believes he must submit.
Good faith is not a defense!
It is not a legal defense to a claim of false imprisonment that one had an honest or a reasonable belief that he was acting lawfully in restricting another’s freedom. Any intentional restriction of a person’s freedom that is without legal right is a false imprisonment.
What about police arrests?
A lawful arrest is a restraint of another’s movement with the legal right to do so. However, an unlawful arrest makes the detention a false imprisonment.
An officer who makes an arrest with a lawful warrant or without a warrant has a legal duty to bring the person he arrested before a judge or magistrate without unnecessary delay; forthwith. If the officer fails to perform this duty, then he has falsely imprisoned the person he arrested even if the arrest itself was lawful.
The jury or court may consider the circumstances that existed after the arrest and until the plaintiff was brought before the judge or magistrate in deciding whether there was an unnecessary delay; this legal duty was complied with.
Potential Immunity for Merchants or Shopkeepers.
A merchant or shopkeeper, an agent of a merchant/shopkeeper or an employee of a merchant/shopkeeper who detains a person for not more than one hour is not liable for false imprisonment if he has probable cause to believe that the person has willfully concealed, shoplifted, or stolen goods or merchandise. A merchant/shopkeeper, an agent of a merchant/shopkeeper, an employee of a merchant/shopkeeper has probable cause to believe that a person has concealed, shoplifted, or stolen goods or merchandise when the circumstances would cause an ordinarily prudent person to have such a belief.
A few of the cases involving issues of false imprisonment handled by the law firm:
Nazario v Town of Windsor Officers
Many other cases – it is often related to cases involving arrests
