Leon's Shoe Stores, Inc. v. Hornsby

In Leon's Shoe Stores, Inc. v. Hornsby 306 S.W.2d 402 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1957, no writ), a store's credit manager called the police to report a customer suspected of attempting to cash a forged check. The police arrived, the manager pointed out the suspect, and the suspect was arrested. But the manager testified at trial that, after calling the police, she had recognized the suspect as a regular customer of the store and knew that the customer's signature was not forged. Unfortunately, she failed to tell this to the police before they made their arrest. In fact, the arresting officer testified that the manager told him just prior to the arrest that the suspect was not a customer of the store. The court of appeals, acknowledging that there had been no explicit request for the arrest, held that the manager's failure to make a full disclosure to the police caused the arrest and made her liable for the false imprisonment. Id. at 410.