Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Nevada

Re: Possible cival lawsuit

It sounds like you were the drafter of the "bad check," and are concerned about civil prosecution, even in the absence of a criminal action. I hope I understood that correctly from your question.

First, according to Nevada Revised Statute �205.130, passing a NSF (not sufficient funds) check is a felony (category D - punishable by 1-4 years in prison, and a $5,000 fine + restitution to the receiver of the check) if the check is for (or multiple checks, totaling) over $250, or is the fourth offense (in any amount). This is a very serious offense in Nevada, where hot checks - often written to casinos - land a lot of tourists in prison in our state.

The person to whom the check was written can bring an action for fraud, and should easily be able to prove it, simply by showing that the check was written, value was received for it, and that the writer knew there were not sufficient funds to cover it at the time it was presented. A criminal prosecution would make their case easy, but the absence of it does not mean they cannot prove a case against you. The standard of proof is much lower in civil than in criminal actions.

Notice that they have the burden of proving the intent of the writer to defraud a victim - an accident or accounting error or bank mistake could possibly negate that intent in civil court.

If you are served with a civil suit, it is definitely worth the investment to obtain counsel to defend you. You do not want to make even a minor error in responding to a suit that could result in a default judgment being entered against you - that is, if you have any chance of a defense, at all. If you are served with a Complaint and Summons, you must move very quickly to properly respond, or lose automatically, despite whatever arguments you may have available to you. DO NOT ignore it, hoping it will go away!

Good luck to you.