Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

I had a company illegally withdraw money from my checking account. I had service with them in the past, but canceled the service before the next month bill was due. I was charged 26 times without authorization. I called the company and the voice mail said it would take 24-36 hours to refund the money. This left me without food for my kids and bills left unpaid over the weekend. I had 10 overdraft fees added to my account charged at $29.00 each. This left my account in the negative. I was wondering if I could sue this company? or at least get some compensation out of them? They are wrong and their billing dept. made a mistake and me and my family suffered from it. My bank has since "covered" for the loss; however, it has been over 72-96 hours and still nothing from the company in question. This is unjust!


Asked on 4/12/10, 11:41 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jonathon Moseley Moseley & Associates Law Firm

Of course you can sue the company. You put this under "criminal law" but I don't think it is a criminal matter, because you previously did give them permission in the past. SO it is too easy for them to portray this as a mistake.

I don't know the amount of money involved, but I imagine it is under $15,000 -- including the overdraft fees and other damages.

You can include everything that you have lost, but (sadly) NOT your time.

Therefore, you can sue the company in General District Court by filling out a Warrant in Debt form. You can get the form from the Clerk.

This is unfortunately a common and growing problem. It has happened to me, but not nearly as bad as what you are describing here.

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Answered on 4/17/10, 5:24 pm


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