Body Central Store accused of videotaping women in dressing room

Three women claim a Fairview Heights store taped them while they were in a changing room without their knowledge.

Trania Pawnell, Kimberly Stacker and Jamie Manske filed a putative class action lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Body Central Stores.

The plaintiffs claim Body Central Stores video recorded them and other women while they were taking their clothes off in the changing rooms. They contend that because they did not give consent to be videotaped, Body Central Stores’s actions were illegal.

“As a direct and proximate result of defendant’s intrusion upon the privacy of the individual plaintiffs while each was in a changing room, plaintiffs have suffered embarrassment, mental anguish and emotional distress,” the suit states.

The plaintiffs claim Body Central Stores acted illegally when it place unauthorized video cameras into its dressing rooms.

They seek unspecified compensatory and statutory damages, plus injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, costs, pre and post-judgment interest and other relief the court deems just.

David I. Cates and Ryan J. Mahoney of Cates Mahoney in Swansea will be representing them.

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-451.