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NEW ORLEANS – A Baton Rouge doctor is suing Saks Fifth Avenue and two of the retailer’s employees for allegedly accusing her of shoplifting because she is of African-American descent.
Dr. Japera Levine filed suit against Saks Fifth Avenue LLC, a Saks sales associate, and a Saks security guard in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on June 27.
Levine claims that on June 30, 2013, between noon and 2 p.m., she went shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue on Canal Street in New Orleans.
Her motivation for patronizing the retailer was celebratory, having just finished a surgical procedure at her hospital of employment in Baton Rouge, the suit states. It also states that Levine had shopped at Saks locations in other cities several times before.
Levine asserts that the incident began in the shoe department, where she paid $500 to have a pair of shoes not available in the store shipped to her. Following this transaction, the shoe sales associate escorted Levine to the fragrance department on another floor where she sampled two perfumes, the suit states.
The petition states that Levine was permitted to take the two unopened fragrance bottles she had chosen back to the shoe department, where she bought three more pairs of shoes.
Having concluded her business there, Levine proceeded to intimates (the lingerie department), where she allegedly notified the associate about the two bottles of perfume. The salesperson did not offer to hold the fragrances at the counter, says the suit.
Levine claims that the intimates associate allowed her to take the bottles with her into the changing room, where she tried on the items she had chosen. The plaintiff further asserts that when she exited the dressing room, the intimates salesperson rudely informed her that she would have to pay for the perfumes immediately.
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