[fivekitten]

I was picked up and spent the night in County Jail for signing four checks that bounced (to the same corporation) totalling $4000. I believe they said it was a Class A Misdemeanor (petit larceny?) (new york state) but I have to check into this. I got out on my own recognance BUT (since I have six kids) am deathly afraid of spending any time behind bars.

My husband owns the corporation 100% but I did sign the checks (these were to our main food supplier) and was a listed signer on the bank account. I am not a shareholder nor an officer. The company frequently held checks for me when I requested them to, however they did not do so for those checks even though I asked them to call first. Our company is now closed and we are trying to sell.

Shouldn't the corporation be charged rather than the individual? (a lawyer will be assigned to me since I'm poor, but this wasn't intentional and hoping i can prove this). Where/How is the line drawn between corporate and individual acts?

[Mr. Knowitall]

The corporation didn't write bad checks - an individual did that. If in fact you can demonstrate a history of the corporation holding checks, with the understanding that you did not yet have funds to cover the checks, you improve your chances of a favorable resolution. Similarly, if you can demonstrate that you thought you could cover the checks with funds in the account, but that somebody else unbeknownst to you withdrew funds or wrote additional checks, that improves your position. If you closed the account and never put in sufficient funds to cover the checks, it's going to be harder for your lawyer.

[fivekitten]

For the record everything was dismissed. Thank you for your advice. I was fortunate to gain free access to lexis at the local law library and could help my lawyer collect precedent cases similar to mine which were dismissed.