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Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
Haeggquist & Eck is currently representing women in San Diego and nationwide who were sexually assaulted while shopping at Dollar Tree.
What should have been an ordinary shopping trip became a deeply traumatic experience for multiple women at Dollar Tree stores across the country.
These Allegations Are Part of a Larger Nationwide Pattern
What happened in San Diego does not appear in isolation.
The Guardian recently conducted an extensive investigation into reports of men masturbating in public, exposing themselves, or ejaculating on unsuspecting women in and around Dollar Tree stores across the country.
Some online communities have referred to this conduct using terms such as “gooning,” “sharking,” or “tagging.” But terminology that turns sexual violence into an internet trend or joke risks obscuring what victims actually experience.
This is not a joke, a prank, or harmless internet behavior. When someone subjects another person to sexual contact or conduct without consent, the survivor can experience it as a profound violation of their body, dignity, privacy, and sense of safety.
Sexual Assault Can Change the Way a Survivor Moves Through the World
It is easy for public discussion of these cases to focus on unusual internet terminology or the disturbing details of the conduct. But we cannot lose sight of the women at the center of these cases.
For a survivor, an assault can transform an everyday activity into a source of fear.
Going grocery shopping. Walking through a parking lot. Standing alone in an aisle. Noticing someone walking behind you.
Things that once required no thought can suddenly trigger anxiety, hypervigilance, fear, or memories of what happened.
Women should never have to experience this violation simply because they walk into a store to buy office supplies.
Businesses Have a Responsibility to Take Customer Safety Seriously
Businesses may face civil liability when they knew or should have known about a foreseeable danger and fail to take reasonable precautions.
That is why issues such as prior incidents, staffing, surveillance systems, security policies, employee training, incident reports, and a company’s response to previous complaints can become critically important in premises-liability and negligent-security cases.
Our San Diego lawsuit seeks accountability based on the specific facts and California law. Similar incidents in other states must be evaluated individually because premises-liability and negligence laws vary significantly from state to state.
Have You Experienced Similar Conduct at a Dollar Tree or Other Retail Store?
Haeggquist & Eck is investigating reports of similar sexual assaults and misconduct at Dollar Tree locations in California and across the United States.
If someone exposed himself to you, masturbated near you, ejaculated on you, wiped bodily fluid on you, followed you through a store while engaging in sexual conduct, filmed you as part of such an incident, or subjected you to another form of unwanted sexual conduct, you may have legal rights.
You do not need to know whether what happened to you fits a particular internet term. You also do not need to have responded to the incident in any particular way for your experience to matter.
Survivors react to sexual trauma differently. Some immediately report what happened. Others freeze, leave, shower, discard clothing, try to forget what happened, or only later understand that what occurred was a sexual assault.
If you still have clothing, photographs, videos, receipts, police reports, communications with store employees, witness information, or other evidence relating to an incident, consider preserving those materials. But the absence of any particular piece of evidence does not necessarily determine whether you have a potential claim.
Haeggquist & Eck is representing survivors of these Dollar Tree incidents in San Diego and nationwide.
We are committed to helping survivors understand their options, protect their rights, and pursue accountability where the law permits.
If you or someone you love experienced similar conduct at a Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, or another retail location, contact our office for a confidential case evaluation.
You deserve to be heard. And corporations entrusted with the safety of their customers should be held accountable when the evidence and the law show they failed to meet that responsibility.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different, and laws governing negligence, premises liability, statutes of limitation, and sexual assault claims vary by jurisdiction.
