Tampa criminal attorneys are constantly asked about this issue, as many times, the civil demand concerns individuals more than the criminal prosecution. Elsewhere on our Tampa criminal attorney blog, we discuss briefly the civil implications of petit theft, the most likely civil implication, you will encounter is the civil demand from the business for civil damages. These civil demands basically challenge the accused to either pay a fine by a certain time or they would file a suit against you. There are three major issues to consider with these civil demand letters in Florida relating to petit and retail theft.
First and foremost, the majority of these letters come from cases involve major, nationwide chains, like Macys, WalMart, Publix, Target, etc. These companies have contracts with large law firms, who essentially only prepare these letters and negotiate settlements on the claims. They base their claim on Florida Statute Section 772.11. It is also worth noting that although these large firms send out thousands of demand letters, they truly rarely file suits in these cases. It is reported one of the larger national law firms doesn’t even have a Florida barred attorney to file suits within Florida. While I can’t dispute the clear intent of the law by the Florida Legislature, unfortunately many large retail chains simply take advantage of them. These cases do not consider the restitution that is often a part of the criminal suit. This is incredibly frustrating to Tampa criminal attorneys and their clients since it ultimately results in them being forced to pay essentially twice for the same item.
Secondly, the amount in the demand will usually rise over time. As you can imagine, this is extremely concerning to folks without legal counsel since they continually see the demand amount rising without any explanation. Many times they will also cut down the amount of time to respond to the demand. For example, the first demand letter may permit thirty (30) days to respond, while the second and “final” demand may only permit ten (10) days to respond.
Lastly, the majority of Tampa criminal attorneys provide counsel their clients about how to avoid paying twice for the item and these hefty damages and charges. We routinely advise as our clients, who have been accused of petit/retail theft, concerning these civil demands. Additionally, we strongly encourage our clients that if they pay these civil demand letters to maintain the records for purposes of avoiding restitution later in the case. Many times, Tampa criminal attorneys are able to get very favorable outcomes in these cases, when restitution isn’t an issue.
If you or someone you know has questions about Florida civil demand letters in petit theft cases, contact the Tampa criminal attorneys of Hackworth Law. We offer free case consultations and routinely handle these matters throughout the Tampa Bay Area. We appreciate your time in checking out our Tampa criminal attorney blog. If you want to contact one of our Tampa criminal attorneys immediately, please use our “contact us now” tab in the upper right hand corner of our website. Thanks for your time.