A woman who claims a male customer secretly took cell-phone photos of her in “various stages of undress” while trying on clothes at the Target store in Redondo Beach is suing Target Corp. and the alleged voyeur.
The lawsuit says the woman spotted the hidden cell phone, put on her clothes and started “screaming for security.”
Janet Dominick’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges assault, invasion of privacy, negligence, premises liability and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Target representative could not be immediately reached for comment about the complaint filed Wednesday, nor could defendant Carlos De La Cruz.
The plaintiff alleges that De La Cruz followed her into the dressing room section of the store about 2:15 p.m. on May 9. He placed his cell phone above the door frame and took images of the plaintiff “in various stages of undress,” the lawsuit alleges.
Dominick believes De La Cruz transmitted the images to another device or to a website, according to her court papers.
After Dominick saw the cell phone, she quickly dressed and left the room “screaming for security,” the suit says. Security personnel arrived and told De La Cruz to open the door to his stall, which he did after initially refusing, according to the suit, which alleges that he said: “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”
When the security staff asked Dominick if she wanted to press charges, she replied, “Yes, or else he will just do it again,” according to the suit, which says De La Cruz was arrested and is awaiting trial on an invasion of privacy charge.
Dominick says she has been abandoned by friends, exposed to contempt and ridicule and suffered a loss of reputation as a result of what happened to her.
Target knew or should have known that the dressing rooms were constructed in a way that made people vulnerable to other customers secretly photographing them without consent, the suit states.
–City News Service