Duplicate Payment from Securities Firm

[Joe S.]

Hi,

In mid-1999, I closed an account with a securities company that had transacted some stock for me, and since then I had heard nothing (except for getting tax forms). A couple weeks ago (March, 15, 2001) I received a letter from them stating that my account had around a $3,600.00 "debit," which surprised me, as when I closed my account, it had a balance of zero. After checking my records, I found that the securities company had duplicated a payment for a stock transaction (for around $3,300.00), and now they wanted that amount plus about $300.00 in interest. My question is, what am I legally obligated to pay them, considering the situation was created by their mistake, and almost two years has gone by since it happened? Thanks.

 

[ALawyer]

Unless the statute of limitations has run, or the brokerage account agreement bars corrections and charges after a certain amount of time (some firms do that to protect themselves -- and often what is sauce for the goose also becomes sauce for the gander, so you'd win out), you'd owe the money.