A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against Walmart, Inc., several other stores and several individuals for shoplifter extortion, saying the court lacked jurisdiction over any of the defendants.

The lawsuit alleged that each of the plaintiffs were accused of shoplifting at Walmart. Upon apprehension, they were offered two options: either participate in a costly program through Corrective Education Company, LLC (CEC), or be referred to law enforcement. The complaint sets forth claims under the federal racketeering statute against the stores, saying Walmart, Bloomingdale’s, 99 Cents Only, Save Mart, Burlington Coat Factory, Kroger Co. and Sportsman’s Warehouse used the CEC database to conduct background checks. Thus they are all connected to the underlying wrongful conduct in violation of the federal racketeering law.

The court dismissed the lawsuit against all of the defendants, except 99 Cents Only and Save Mart, saying the court lacks jurisdiction over the defendants since none of the stores are incorporated in California, nor do any of the individual defendants live in California. The court also said that the plaintiffs have 30 days to amend the complaint as to the CEC individual defendants and Walmart, giving them a chance to transfer the lawsuit to an appropriate state.

Notably, the plaintiffs only joined that California defendants, 99 Cents Only and Save Mart, after defense counsel notified the plaintiffs’ counsel that they would be challenging jurisdiction in California. This may later hurt the plaintiffs’ claims against the two stores.