BOSTON (AP) – Ten shoppers filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., alleging that employees in the Avon store targeted them as potential shoplifters based on their race.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, claims that in 2002 and 2003, employees at the store followed the shoppers, then searched their shopping bags, purses and clothing. None of the shoppers was charged with shoplifting.

The suit describes five incidents in which Wal-Mart employees are accused of treating customers as shoplifters based on their race. Nine of the shoppers are minorities; one is white.

In one incident, three teenage girls – two black and one white – were shopping in the store on Sept. 29, 2003, when they noticed they were being watched by a white female Wal-Mart employee.

As they approached the exit, the employee ordered them to stop, then demanded to search the purse of one of the black shoppers and demanded that the other black girl empty her pockets, according to the lawsuit. The white shopper, who was standing in between the two black girls, had a purse and clothing with pockets, but she was not searched, the lawsuit alleges.

Marty Heires, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, said the company has not thoroughly reviewed the lawsuit, but it has investigated the cases that were cited and found no evidence of discrimination.

“Any time that we receive any allegation of this type, we reinforce our anti-discrimination policy with all our associates, and we did that in these cases,” he said.

In December, the shoppers offered to settle the case for $400,000, according to the lawsuit. Wal-Mart offered to enter into private mediation with the shoppers, but did not make a settlement offer.