Do I have a civil suit

[mthomas222]

What is the name of your state? VA

Here is my basic question, stripped down to a bare minimum, that I can not seem to get a straight answer on around here. I thought I'd try a different thread.

Can I sue a person for the legal fees that I incurred based on their unfounded accusation of Assault and Battery. They said I performed A&B, pressed charges w/ the magistrate, I hired a lawyer, and then those who pressed the charges never showed up at court - therefore case was dismissed.

If you want to read the whole case - look at my posts under the "Other Crime" section in the "Criminal Law" forum.

Do I have a case? Is it worth my time to pursue a $500 bill? Should I do it in small calims or do I need a lawyer? If there are any real lawyers, llb/ms, paralegals, etc out there who can give me a straight answer I'd really appreciate it

 

[Boxcarbill]

What is the name of your state? VA

Here is my basic question, stripped down to a bare minimum, that I can not seem to get a straight answer on around here. I thought I'd try a different thread.

Can I sue a person for the legal fees that I incurred based on their unfounded accusation of Assault and Battery. They said I performed A&B, pressed charges w/ the magistrate, I hired a lawyer, and then those who pressed the charges never showed up at court - therefore case was dismissed.

If you want to read the whole case - look at my posts under the "Other Crime" section in the "Criminal Law" forum.

Do I have a case? Is it worth my time to pursue a $500 bill? Should I do it in small calims or do I need a lawyer? If there are any real lawyers, llb/ms, paralegals, etc out there who can give me a straight answer I'd really appreciate it

Attorney's fee can be awarded to the prevailing party in a CIVIL case. This was a criminal case . Attorney's fees are not awarded in a criminal case.
In order to get attorney's fees, you would have to file a civil suit for malicious prosecution and "malicious prosecution is not a favorite under the law." In lay terms, the courts do not like malicious prosecution cases because we want to encourage people to report suspected crimes. So malicious prosecution is extremely difficult to prove and it would cost you far more than the $500.00. Hope that is straight enough for you.