Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

Many things are not clear from your post. Is this civil or criminal? The fact that a background check was done does not really indicate if the worthless check matter is civil or cirminal in nature. We have both civil and criminal statutes.

If criminal, the district attorney would be handling, not some law office. Generally, there is a time limit to prosecute criminal offenses. I am not a criminal law attorney, but if this is a criminal charge under the NC worthless check criminal statute, then you would be best served by hiring a criminal law attorney and seeking to get these criminal charges dismissed from their "pending" status based on the statute of limitations, right to a speedy trial etc.

If this is civil in nature, the statute of limitations in NC is 3 three years. So if the money was owed in 2004, then any civil action is clearly barred by the statute of limitations. If that is the case, then you don't need a criminal law attorney. How much is the check for? There are some penalties under the worthless check statute but the attorney or the person who received the check has not been diligent in pursuing this so I would make them a deal - agree to pay the full amount of the check (if you really made the check and this is not a situation where your checks were stolen and someone passed the check as if they were you) and in return, ask them to remove all negative/derogatory references as those things should come off your credit report anyway. I would ask for proof of your responsibility (at minimum, a copy of the cancelled check) and before you paid them a dime I would get a letter from them indicating that if you pay whatever amount, then no further monies will be owed and that any derogatory references will be removed from your credit file.

If this is not your check, then there is a different process to dispute. You would have to get information from your bank establishing that checks were stolen and that this was not you and then dispute this with the law firm.

My question is how can this be "pending" from 2004? Under either the civil or criminal statutes, notice and an opportunity to pay the check has to be sent to you by certified mail. Moreover, in order to get the penalties under the civil statute, 2 certified letters must be sent. Under the criminal statute, the payee must send you a certified letter and then the district attorney's office must send you a letter. So why did you not take care of this if this is your check?