actually, they do have to wait till you've left the store to approach you, because the thinking is that as long as you are still in the store, you might pay for the items they wrongly thought you'd stolen. where they opened themselves up for a lawsuit is when the employee started going through your personal property. "i'm sorry" won't cut it at that point. the proper procedure is to call the police and the police have to ask your permission to look through your things. you can say no, but you'll get arrested. at the station, they'll get a warrant and search your things. in your case, there was nothing to find, because you hadn't stolen anything. you have a perfect lawsuit and i hope you'll get a lawyer and pursue it. these employees were not only way out of line, they acted illegally. the only mistake i see that you made is leaving the unwanted clothes in the dressing room. next time, take them back out with you and make sure an employee knows that you tried them on but don't want them and ask them what to do with the clothes, i.e., do you rehang them or do they?