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Couple Sues Walmart Over Daughters' Bath Photos

They briefly lost custody after employees called police

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff | Suggested by GeorgeL

Posted Mar 9, 2013 10:34 AM CST

(Newser) – An Arizona couple dropped off a memory stick of photos at Walmart to have them developed and lost custody of their three daughters for more than a month as a result. The reason? Some of the photos of the girls—ages 5, 4, and 1 at the time—were taken at bathtime, reports ABC News. "There are a few after the bath," says mom Lisa Demaree. "Three of the girls are ... lying on a towel with their arms around each other, and we thought it was so cute." Walmart employees, however, worried the children were being sexually exploited and called police.

Child services took the children, and it wasn't until a superior court judge looked at the photos and deemed them harmless that the family was reunited. The Demarees have sued Walmart, saying the company should tell customers it has an "unsuitable print policy" and that it might call the cops, reports Courthouse News Service. A federal judge sided with the chain, ruling that employees can't be held liable for reporting what they believe to be abuse, and the case is now in the hands of an appeals court.

File photo of a Walmart store.
File photo of a Walmart store.   (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 121 comments
bugsybugs06
Apr 16, 2013 12:36 PM CDT
I created an account just for this. I hate walmart. They are run by discriminating and incompetent employees. I hope this family gets a nice dime for their discomfort.  My husband has tourette syndrome and they kicked him out of the store for his "odd behavior" what makes it worse is that they called the cops and made him sign a document as one of the police officers had his hand on his gun. We have boycotted walmart since three years ago. Feel so alone and discrminated against because no one ever told us there was a problem. Course we haven't went there because they made him sign a no trespass in any of there US stores. Good thing we don't care to shop there because they have all chinese products. I hope they go fold soon.
EuroNat
Apr 15, 2013 6:18 PM CDT
Americans are the most conservative people on earth surface after Arabs. US society is paranoia driven and extremist, yet everybody thinks that they are more progressive than the rest of the world. 
milosleubner
Mar 10, 2013 4:30 PM CDT
Even  though  some  idiots  here  are  trying  to  stop  you  from  seeing  the  obvious   we   are  trully forced  to  live    in  a Twilight Zone .If  you  have  any  doubts  that   Child Protecdtive  Organization  is   by  an  large  a criminal  outfit  destroying   American  families    visit  www.fightcps.com  or   call me  707  2794843 .CPS  is   the   worse   single  danger  present  in  our  children  lives   today,   right  up  there  with  governmental   drones  looking   into  your  kitchen  window.  Since   1974   the   feminists  and  lesbians   along   with   various  mamas boys  Nazi  types  have  beeen  grossly  misusing  their  powers   negatively  effecting   hundreds  of  thousands  of  normal  Americans..  For   several  years  these   subhumans  had  a   total  immunity  for  their   actions ,meaning  they  could and  did  lie  to  the  court  ,falsify  evidence, violantly  manipulated  children  to  testify  against  the  parents ,  lost   children  in  foster  care  and  sadly  much ,much  more. They  get  Federal  bonuses  for   adopting  out  peoples  children  (over  certain  #  per  month)   so   they  look  for  more  material - fuel to  justify  their  jobs  incessantly  .     My   twin  daughters  were  taken  and  held   for  a  year  for  similar  "offense"   except  in  our   case  the  PHOTOGRAPHS  OF   WHICH  THEY  CLAIMED  THAT  WERE  TAKEN  AGAINST  MY  KIDS   WILL,  NEVER  EXISTED  ,THEY  HAVE  NEVER  SEEN  ANY  SUCH  PHOTOS,NONE  WERE  PRESENTED  TO  THE  COURT ,  NO  WITNESSES  WERE  TESTIFIING ,  THE  CPS   "COMPLAINT"  LISTING  THE  CHARGES  WAS  GIVEN  TO  ME 15 MINUTES   BEFORE  THE  DETENTION  HEARING , THE  SAME  COMPLAINT  WAS  BASED  ON  AN  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  CHILDREN   WHICH  NEVER  TOOK  PLACE   -  AND  ON  THIS "EVIDENCE"   THE  GREAT  AMERICAN  JUSTICE  SYSTEM  DECLARED  MY  KIDS  DEPENDANTS   OF  THE  STATE   OF   CALIFORNIA   AND  HANDED   THEM ,  GIVEN  THEM AS   CHATTEL   TO  CPS  AND  ASSOCIATED  ZOMBIES  TO   FEED  ON  LIKE A  VAMPIRES.  THEY  WERE  NEVER   TOLD   WHY  THEY  WERE  TAKEN,NEVER  SHOWN  THE  ALLEGATIONS   EVEN  WHEN  THEY  WERE  ASKING  TO ,,NEVER  TOLD  WHEN  THEY  WILL BE  GOING  HOME..   THEY  WERE  NEVER  ALLOWED  TO  CONTACT  ME  FOR  OVER  A  YEAR  OR   I   WAS  NOT  ALLOWED  TO  CONTACT  THEM .     This  happened  in  .April  2006  -  May  2007  ,in Stocton  .California.    This   entry  of  mine  is  currently  under a  review  by  the  local  censor  - one  can  only  wonder   why.
 

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