Discovery Bay, CA Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

You need to be prepared. If you can hire a private attorney do it not. Even if you cannot hire a lawyer DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE. YOU HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT USE THAT RIGHT. ASK FOR A LAWYER AND DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE CASE. No one can use your refusal to give a statement in court. They cannot even mention that you exercised your right to attorney and to remain silent.

Did you receive an actual bill or a letter demanding payment? Without seeing the actual document, it sounds like you received what is known as a "Civil Demand Letter", which is usually sent by an attorney or out-of-state law firm. Although they are legal, as a rule, I usually advise clients to ignore these civil demand letters. Unless you signed some agreement to pay this store, you owe them nothing. In order for you to owe them something they would have to sue you and win. However, It would cost them much more to sue you than they can ever hope to recover so they usually don't pursue it. Also, paying the civil demand does not guarantee that the store will not press charges later on. With that in mind, I would advise that they can still take legal action against you by filing suit in small claims court. If you ignore these actions, a default judgment will be entered against you. So, although you can usually ignore the civil demand letter, do not ignore anything that comes from a court.