Menahem Neuman, on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff. v. CENTURY 21 DEPARTMENT STORES LLC (2008)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Debra A. James, J.), entered October 10, 2007, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and denied plaintiff's cross motion in limine as moot, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Defendant established prima facie that it had reasonable grounds to detain plaintiff as a suspected shoplifter (General Business Law § 218;  see Johnson v. Lord & Taylor, 25 A.D.3d 435, 807 N.Y.S.2d 367 [2006] ).   Plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue as to the reasonableness of the detention (see Conteh v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 38 A.D.3d 314, 831 N.Y.S.2d 408 [2007], lv. denied 9 N.Y.3d 814, 848 N.Y.S.2d 25, 878 N.E.2d 609 [2007] ).   He voluntarily signed a confession that he intended to steal the merchandise, after which defendant called the police, who arrived 30 minutes later.

Defendant established its defense without the evidence that plaintiff sought to exclude.

We have considered plaintiff's remaining arguments and find them without merit.