Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Punitive damages

Punitive damages? No. And without more facts that might favor your side, I would doubt that you even have a viable case for compensatory damages.

Re: Punitive damages

Well, if a creditor files a frivolous lawsuit

and KNEW before filing it that the money is

not due, you can file for sanctions under

8.01-271.1. There is a lot more to it than that,

and sanctions might be denied. A lawyer is

required to make a reasonable inquiry to see if

the claim is "well grounded in fact." If it was reasonable for the attorney to believe that the lawsuit was proper, it is not relevant whether in fact you don't owe the money. The question is did the attorney know or should have known that the lawsuit was improper before filing it.

However, there was not enough information in your

question. You say that the money order was

cashed by someone else. If someone else is

responsible for stealing and forging the money

order, then this might not be the creditor's

fault. If they did not receive the payment,

they would legitimately believe that you had

not paid, because they never received the

payment. Therefore, I don't know that you can

show it was their fault.

Also, Virginia is not a state where you can

sue for things like embarrassment or stress.

Virginia is not California.

Under Virginia law, if you do not owe money,

you simply prove that you paid. You should

not be emarrassed about it. At least

Virginia's courts would nto see anything

embarrassing. If you do not owe the money, then

there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

Again, Virginia is not California, where it is

easy for plaintiffs to win lawsuits for emotional

distress and the like.