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Bad Checks.. Got served papers

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cjudkins

Junior Member
Montana

Hello I am new here, and I thought I would see what you guys thought of my situation. I will make this short...
July - Beginning of August wrote some checks that did not clear because a deposit that did not go through. Bank account was open and now is closed by Bank.
Cascading effect and now I have been served court papers and this company demands 1800.00 dollars for the checks and fees,court costs,filing costs etc..
None of the checks go over the amount of 120 dollars, and there is multiple checks. I am supposed to call a 800 # and I need to know if I can fight this and plea not guilty, or plea guilty and see what happens and set court date.
The company is a collection agency of some sort.

As far as my background goes, I am 22 years old not a single traffic violation or ticket on my record. Very clean record... Should I get a lawyer and try to lessen charges? Also I need to know if this would be considered criminal,civil or federal charges and what I would be facing if charged...?
 
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Leinalani

Member
cjudkins said:
Montana

Hello I am new here, and I thought I would see what you guys thought of my situation. I will make this short...
July - Beginning of August wrote some checks that did not clear because a deposit that did not go through. Bank account was open and now is closed by Bank.

Cascading effect and now I have been served court papers for the amount of 1800,court costs,filing costs etc..
None of the checks go over the amount of 120 dollars, and there is multiple checks. I am supposed to call a 800 # and I need to know if I can fight this and plea not guilty, or plea guilty and see what happens and set court date.

As far as my background goes, I am 22 years old not a single traffic violation or ticket on my record. Very clean record... Should I get a lawyer and try to lessen charges? Also I need to know if this would be considered criminal,civil or federal charges and what I would be facing if charged...?
What does the summons say?
 

cjudkins

Junior Member
Leinalani said:
What does the summons say?
Well I don't have the papers with me right now. It basicly listed all of the bad checks and the company demands 1800 something dollars... I need to call the 800 number and I suppose set up a date.

This is all new to me :confused:
 

Leinalani

Member
Post back when you do have the papers in front of you. Then type out what you've got on here less the personal info.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
cjudkins said:
Well I don't have the papers with me right now. It basicly listed all of the bad checks and the company demands 1800 something dollars... I need to call the 800 number and I suppose set up a date.

This is all new to me :confused:
Your post is very confusing.

Did someone serve you papers?

If they are from a court, are they civil or criminal?

What's this about calling an 800 number?

Anyway, post back when you've looked at your papers. You're not making sense.
 

cjudkins

Junior Member
Sorry for all the confusion in my posts... :eek:

Yes, I did get served court papers last night by a process server.. I don't know if it is criminal,civil etc..

I will bring the papers with me tommrow and post a reply in this thread with some better information regarding the papers.
 

Happy Trails

Senior Member
Civil damages in Montana -- $100 or treble (which is 3 times) amount of check, the damages may not exceed the value of the check, draft, or order by more than $500.

If pursued criminally:

A person convicted of issuing a bad check shall be fined not to exceed $1,000 or be imprisoned in the county jail for any term not to exceed 6 months, or both. If the offender has engaged in issuing bad checks that are part of a common scheme or if the value of any property, labor, or services obtained or attempted to be obtained exceeds $1,000, the offender shall be fined not to exceed $50,000 or be imprisoned in the state prison for any term not to exceed 10 years, or both.

The amount they are asking sounds right to me, since there were several checks. You better hope they won't press criminal charges.
 
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cjudkins

Junior Member
Well the checks that are on the papers seperately do not exceed 1000 dollars.. I don't even think that adding all the checks up would exceed 1000, but for some reason they want 1883 or something like that.

How will I know if they are pressing criminal charges or civil?
 

Leinalani

Member
cjudkins said:
Well the checks that are on the papers seperately do not exceed 1000 dollars.. I don't even think that adding all the checks up would exceed 1000, but for some reason they want 1883 or something like that.

How will I know if they are pressing criminal charges or civil?
Look at the court papers....that's why we've been asking for them.
 

cjudkins

Junior Member
Ok, I brought the papers..I wil type out the whole thing .

The top half list's the plaintiff's address,names,phone numbers etc ||Shows stamp filed Oct 10 2005

Middle Says "In the Justice Court CASCADE County,Montana Before, Justice of the peace"
__

Collection Bureau Services Inc Cause No.

VS | SUMMONS

Me
__

THE STATE OF MONTANA O THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS GREETINGS:

You are here by summoned to answer the complaint in this action, which is filed in the above entitled court. A copy of the same is served upon you. In the event that you deny any or all of thge material facts stated in the complaint, you must file your written answer toghther with a $20.00 answer fee for each defendant with the above entitled court and serve a copy of your answer upon the plaintiff or plaintiff's attorney at the address as shown on the complaint.

The answer must contain a denial of any or all of the material stated in the complaint that the defendant belives to be untru and also a statement in a plain or direct manner of any other facts consttuting a defense. Any matter not denied shall be deemed admitted. If you fail to answer or assert a counterclaim within 20 days after service of the complaint and summons, exclusive of the day of service, the plaintiff may request entry of defualt judgement againist you for the relief demanded in the complaint.


Samuel L HARRIS
Justice of the peace

__Next page

Same header as forst page

Plaintiff collection bureau services Inc complains and alleges the follows:

1. Defendant is are justly indebted (both jointly and severally) to the following named creditors in the amounts indicated and for goods of services, which obligations were to be paid at the location indicated:

Check Amount First and + im guessing a fee second
___________

1. 25.00 8/28/04
2. 9.10 + 130.00* 8/02/05
3. 32.14 + 130.00* 8/02/05
4. 44.96 + 164.88* 8/02/05
5. 89.89 + 299.67* 8/03/05
6. 40.35 + 151.05* 8/03/05
7. 43.33 + 159.99* 8/04/05
8. 7.29 + 130.00* 8/04/05
9. 36.48 + 139.44* 8/11/05
10. 55.74 + 197.22* 8/11/05

*For damages pursuant to sec 27-1-717 MCA . Plaintiff alleges check(s) were dishononred for lack of funds or no account with drawee, and that proper and sufficient written demand has been made not less than 10 days before commencement of the action.

Prior to the commencement of this action, the creditotrs duly assigned and /or transferred the accounts to the plaintiff, a corporation authorized to do business in the State of montana. Plaintiff is the owner of the obligations identified above. Although payment has been demanded, the accounts are past due and unpaid.

Wherefore, Plaintiff demands judgement againist Defendant for $1886.53 plus $35.00 filing fee, and process server's fees, to be determined, post judgement costs,prejudgement interest and post judgement interest at 10% per annum, attorney's fees and or collection costs if provided for by statute or contract, should Plaintiff prevail.

Dated
Oct 5th 2005

Collection Bureau Services Inc

By So and so
Address etc...
____

So what do you think ??
 

cjudkins

Junior Member
And to clear something up . The bank account was open at the time this started, and was most likely closed September sometime.

And in reference to the 800 number, that is the number that the process server provided for me. I am thinking it is the # to the company that is filing this againist me.
 
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Kane

Member
Well, first of all, you have to file an answer, or they'll get a default judgment against you.

Second, it's a civil suit, not criminal. If they get a judgment, they'll be able to get a lien against your non-exempt property, whatever that is in your state (usually your home is considered exempt property). They may also be able to garnish your wages, although again that depends on the laws of your state.

Call them up and attempt to negotiate a settlement. If you want to hire a lawyer, that'd be a good idea, though I suspect you don't have the money to hire a lawyer, or you would have already have paid off the checks. You don't get a free lawyer in civil cases.

The fees they're trying to charge you look insanely high to me. But I'm not from Montana, so I can't say what is the normal fee for a bad check in your state. It's around $25 where I live. You might try offering to pay off the checks, in exchange for waiving some or all of those fees.
 

Leinalani

Member
Yeah, it's a summons for a civil suit. So you're not being charged with anything criminal.

But, i'd call that 800# the server gave you and talk to them about it. This is a civil complaint from which the bank is now trying to collect their lost monies. If you can pay them now, do so. Then demand that they dismiss the case with prejudice.
 

cjudkins

Junior Member
Well thats good news that it is only civil. Thanks for your help so far guys... You are right Kane, I cannot afford a lawyer at this time. I will try to see if they will settle out of court.. I don't have the money right now, but I get paid on the 9th.

Do you think they will work out a payment plan if I cannot pay all of the 1800?

And I don't quite understand the "answer" thing.. Is that pleading?
 

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