My brother-in-law just received a letter from Palmer, Reifler & Associates. The letter is demanding $500 because it says that my niece stole something. First off, my niece's name is spelled completely wrong. Secondly, my niece is only 9 y.o. and she's never been in trouble for stealing anything or been in trouble with the law. Should they disregard the letter? Could it be that someone used her name?
The consensus is to ignore them. A few years ago, they admitted they send out 1,500,000 letters a year, but file "fewer than ten" lawsuits. I have never heard of them filing a lawsuit in California.
Law firms like this usually work on commission, keeping part of what they collect and sending the rest to the stores they represent. Expenses, like postage, come out of their share, so they will usually send one or two increasingly stern letters, then move on to someone else who might be intimidated into paying.
Yes, you should ignore the civil demand letter. They will not pursue a lawsuit as it's not worth their time or expense. These are very common in shoplifting cases.
The popular action is to ignore them as they are contested debts and they would have to serve you and sue you in small claims court. It has no bearing on the criminal case.
From reading the comments of other lawyers, this appears to be a national law firm whose job is to collect up to $500 as a civil penalty for petty theft of merchandise, as the law provides in Penal Code section 490.5. It's not a criminal fine, but instead is a civil penalty, which, if unpaid voluntarily,, wold require the national firm to file a small claims suit. Such firms usually don't file suit because the costs of doing so are often far greater than the possible recovery in Small Claims Court, and legal costs are not compensated. It seems that this firm sends out these letters to frighten those arrested for petty theft, but don't intend actually to sue, but rather just frighten folks into paying the amount sought by just threatening a suit.
Moreover, if your daughter is nine years old, I can't imagine a prosecutor filiing a case against her in Juvenile court. Rather, there might be some inquiry into whether she has a problem that motivated a theft and whether the problem could be solved with counseling, treatment, or an educational program.
Were I you, I wouldn't worry about the collection firm's threat to sue in any event.
