Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

Dear attorney of the LawGuru Team,

Three months I was falsely accused of shoplifting at a store in Dallas. I was unable to prove that I didn't steal the item and out of fear from their threats of calling the police to have me arrested I agreed to sign a paper saying I would stay off the premises of their store for 3 years. They also said I would receive a Civil Demand Notice in the mail. I was unaware of what that even meant when I naively gave them my information and agreed. Now their "law firm" (Palmer Reifler & Associates) is harassing me for an outrageous sum of money for the Civil Demand Notice. The item I was accused of stealing was only $9.00 and the idea that I stole it was ridiculous since I had bought over $150 worth the merchandise before leaving the store. I had never imagined what they considered "compensation for time lost" to be the outrageous sum of almost $400 that they are demanding. I feel like I am being scammed and I can't afford to pay that, much less afford college without grants. I did in depth research about their firm and found out that they have multiple class action law suits against them for fraud and predatory collection tactics. Not to mention I have discovered several testimonies from individuals claiming to have paid them the amount they demanded only to have them continue to demand more after.

I would very much like to not get my parents involved in this matter since I'm legally an adult. My father is an attorney at the Department of Labor in Dallas and I feel he would be greatly shamed and angered by this whole ordeal, even If telling him could mean possible legal advice. I am not at all close with him and he is the type of man who would consider me letting them intimidate me into signing anything as an admission of guilt or weakness.

I have never had any need for legal advice before and now that I do, I find myself unable to afford it. I need to know is whether I should pay the amount they are asking since I was told I would be criminally prosecuted If I didn't? I never even received an actual letter from them because they claimed to have the wrong address, but I was told the amount through the constant machine operated calls I've been getting.

Anyways, please tell me what I need to do to make the harassment from this law firm stop. If you find this question too long or in depth to answer for free, then please refer me to legal advice that a college student could possible afford. Thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely,

Katherine Beal

(817) 881 5833


Asked on 12/16/10, 7:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

Don't pay them any money, don't answer their letter, don't talk to them on the phone, and don't worry about these people.

As for the phone calls that come from a machine: You need to start recording these calls, and contact the police. Make a note of the date and time of each call.

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Answered on 12/21/10, 5:03 pm


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