Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

My son wrote a check for $100.00 as part of a down payment on a motorcycle in 2009. Being new with a checking account and miscalculating, the check was returned NSF. We received a letter from the company mid-July 2009. I called the company and apologized. They told me go ahead and send a $100.00 money order to cover the check. I did. The money order was dated 08.09.2009 and on the MO I wrote "for check". We didn't hear anything else about the check. My son lost his job and I didn't make enough to even pay household bills. We were never able to pay a remaining balance of $400.00, even though this is not shown in any paperwork nor did we sign anything saying we would pay that. We had told them we'd do the best we could. In July/August 2010, we received a letter from the court that my son had charges on him for a bad check. The amount in question could be up to $640.00. I called the clerk and she said the actual check that was turned in was only for $100.00 but the company was wanting $500.00. Something to that effect. She was very unclear with what she was telling me. I have a copy of the money order that was sent to pay for that bad check. When I spoke with the company that sent the check to the court for nonpayment, they got their copy and had not realized my money order noted "for check". They are actually the ones who faxed me a copy of the money order. The company then told me that the court is who filed for up to $640.00. I called the court back and the clerk told me, "I'll tell you the same thing I told the gentleman from that company that I spoke with earlier" ... and said he at least needs to come in and plea not guilty. Apparently the company realized they sent a check to the DA that had already been paid for. Now my son and I both will have to miss work (no pay) to go to the court, chance them arresting him for writing bad checks, and all the time we're having to spend to get this straightened out, not to mention the stress this has caused for a bad check that was payed with a money order one month after we were notified back in 2009. Can this company blatantly lie about all this? They have caused extreme stress. To me this is serious business claiming something that is not true and using our court system to do it. What recourse do we have?

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Texas

Looking for something else?