1. A 70-year-old man (Mr. Jackson) went into one of our retail operations in Boston recently. After shopping around, he purchased a laptop tray to elevate his laptop while working from his home office. After making the purchase, he put on his hat and raincoat and began to exit the store. At the doorway, he stopped to pull out his cell phone from his pocket. His phone was covered by a heavy metallic case that was one of our last year’s models. A few remaining cases were for sale in the Boston store in a clearance bin, but Mr. Jackson’s case was given to him as a gift the previous Christmas.

Just after he walked out the door, Michael, one of the store employees, stopped Mr Jackson by grabbing his arm and demanded, loudly, “Where did you get that phone case?” Michael then ordered Mr. Jackson to go back into the store where they would “See the manager.” On the way to the manager’s office, the salesman who had sold Mr. Jackson the laptop tray assured Michael that Mr. Jackson had brought the cell phone case into the store with him - he had seen Mr. Jackson pull it out of his pocket to read a text.

At that point, Mr. Jackson got dizzy and fell down, claiming to be experiencing chest pains. He was then hospitalized for a heart attack. He has now threatened to see the store for false imprisonment.

What is our potential liability here? Did Michael falsely imprison Mr. Jackson? Why (or why not)?