Legal Question in Business Law in Wisconsin

If you were in no way an accomplice of the person who gave you the phony check, you may be able to discharge the $2000 in bankruptcy. You would need to swear out an affidavit of forgery as a part of a law enforcement complaint in order to avoid objections to your discharge. However, $2000 is hardly enough alone to make a bankruptcy worthwhile; you would need to have additional financial problems for that. A more practical approach might be to let the store sue you and raise your defenses then. While anyone who presents a forged check is liable for the forgery (even if unaware of it at the time), the bank which cashed it can sometimes be found contributorily negligent and partially responsible as well. Although this advice will not help you any more, generally speaking, one should never accept a check from a stranger without waiting at least two weeks to make sure that it is good before surrendering the merchandise. Cash or its equivalent is therefore always the best way to go when dealing with strangers. Of course, the buyer who gave you the check is also liable, assuming that you can find him in order to sue him. I don't know nearly enough detail to advise you here and my comments should not be considered legal advice unless you retain me and we revisit this issue.