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What Damages Can You Recover for Theft

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  • 02-01-2015, 12:52 PM
    obelix
    What Damages Can You Recover for Theft
    My question involves small claims court in the state of: Georgia

    So we found out the babysitter took about 2600 worth of check from us, wrote them to her self and cashed them. We have 2600 worth of damages there obviously.. We called the police and there will be a criminal case, 11 felony counts worth of various charges..

    My question #1 is, given that I have some other damages, like I bounced a check over this, and the pain in the a55 it'll be to close all my accounts and reopen them, hiring a credit protection service, etc.. Do I have any punitive type damages beyond that the 2600 is?

    My question #2 is, what do I sue for exactly (legal terms for the forms?)? The checks were written from a joint account.. Does my wife need to be listed as a plaintiff as well.

    - - - Updated - - -

    We are thinking of recovery of the 2600 for the checks, and another 2500 for emotional damages. The emotional damages she caused to us has to do with the fact that we trusted her, and we treated her like our own kid. The entire time she was stealing and we didn't realize it until just recently.. Obviously both myself and my wife are hurt by the betrayal of her stealing from us and that we trusted her with our children the entire time, a felonious criminal..

    Does this seem reasonable?
  • 02-01-2015, 01:09 PM
    cbg
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    You're not going to get different answers by posting a second time:

    http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/show...ht=#post864601
  • 02-01-2015, 01:19 PM
    obelix
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    This is from a civil stand point. The criminal case is over for us..
  • 02-01-2015, 01:25 PM
    Who'sThatGuy
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    The only thing you're owed is the $2600 that she took and the charge for the bounced check.

    You can forget about recovering for emotional damages and hiring a credit protection service.
  • 02-01-2015, 01:28 PM
    obelix
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    So why is there such concept of emotional damages if you can't collect any? Will it hurt to ask, will it change what we can prove on what we are owed for the theft?
  • 02-01-2015, 01:57 PM
    cbg
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    So why is there such concept of emotional damages if you can't collect any? Emotional damages are appropriate in some situations. The circumstances under which emotional damages can be due are limited. This is not one of them. You are NOT going to be owed emotional damages no matter what you can prove; it's simply not applicable in this situation.
  • 02-01-2015, 03:01 PM
    obelix
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    Ok.. what about interest on money she stole. It was quite a bit of money she took..
  • 02-01-2015, 03:16 PM
    free9man
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    Quote:

    Quoting obelix
    View Post
    Ok.. what about interest on money she stole. It was quite a bit of money she took..

    2600 that was in a checking account. A checking account that was likely paying no more than 1% so that is less than a dollar over the course of a year.
  • 02-01-2015, 03:23 PM
    cbg
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    We understand that you're not going to be satisfied unless she is made to pay a significant amount over and above the amount that was actually stolen, jailed, or both.

    Do you understand that you're not necessarily going to get what you want?
  • 02-01-2015, 03:44 PM
    obelix
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    I'm trying to figure out what is reasonable.. We trusted this woman, we suffered loss.. I'm trying to figure out what are the damages here.. I'm not lawyer, and this is just the beginning of all this for us.. I wouldn't go as far to say that I won't be happy for her to pay a significant amount over what she owes us..

    Here's the way I look at all this, realistically. Over the past couple months I've noticed a lot of "strange things", gift cards going missing (the one I got for Christmas this year and others over the past few months).. I had a 1893 us navy signal cannon go missing.. credit card fraud.. We found yesterday as well that she took our kids to CVS and shoplifted with them.. I'm positive there is other stuff we have no idea we are missing yet.. We were always amazed that she would not only baby sit, but would "clean" our house very very well, bout once a week.. A lot of times after this we'd not find stuff... We never ever believed that she would be capable of this.... Keep in mind that she's been our babysitter for 2-3 years.. The bank account records we keep only go back a year, so there's a good chance that this could have been going on much longer than we have access to... I want to get as much as I can because of this... I'm not sure what the damages are.. I'm not sure how badly we are taken. We were screwed.. We are good people, up until my cannon went missing, in my 38 years of life I've never called to get a police reports, and now in just a few months, I have 3.. Is it wrong to get what I can out of this from her, I don't think so.. I don't care really what her sentence or plea bargain is right now, I want to see her punished from all this.. I want to sue her for what I can get, no matter if I can collect.. I think that we are owed the money, interest and some emotional damages.. What reasonable person in my position wouldn't want to be compensated for being screwed.. We are shocked by all this, and we are angry.. There are 5 people really involved here.. My wife, myself, her, and her parents.. I can't think of anything we did to deserve any of this except for her and he actions.. This went on over about 10 months now before we realized what was going on.. So every time she was over, and she told us how great we were, she was also screwing us... And she knew it.. The discussion we had with her yesterday was all about her not going to jail, and not about remorse for anything she did..

    I dunno, am I being unreasonable here?
  • 02-01-2015, 03:50 PM
    cbg
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    Yes. I'm not saying I don't understand why you're upset - I do. But the law doesn't provide for vindictiveness, and that's what I'm seeing from you.

    You have yet, btw, to adequately explain why she would admit to the monetary thefts but deny the theft of the cannon. What would be the point of that? Again, I understand why you're making the connection, but do you have any PROOF that she's responsible?
  • 02-01-2015, 04:05 PM
    obelix
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    Nope, no proof about the cannon either way.. She also denied stealing anything else.. The only thing she copped to was what we had proof of in front of her.. But during the time it went missing she would have been the only person in our house.. I think shes not trying to incriminate herself anymore than she already has.. I'm not vindictive... Maybe I'm expressing my self wrong.. Is it vindictive to want to see a criminal punished for a crime they committed? I don't think so... I believe it to be justice.. That's exactly what I want here.. I want to find out what makes things equal again between us and her.. I don't believe that paying me back for 2600 bucks is equal for what has happened here..
  • 02-01-2015, 04:08 PM
    cbg
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    It may, however, be all you get. It's not up to you what "punishment" she gets. That's up to the courts, and the courts are not about equality.
  • 02-01-2015, 04:20 PM
    Who'sThatGuy
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    So what does a young lady know about a cannon? I would say nothing. Ether her boyfriend was over the house, noticed the cannon and thought it would be a great item to have for himself, or someone else actually stole your cannon.

    Question your children to find out if she ever had a friend over the house while you and your wife was away. If so, find out who it was and pay him a visit and tell him that his girlfriend had told you that he has the cannon. Even thou she never stated that he had the cannon, just maybe he will breakdown and tell the truth if he believes that she told on him.
  • 02-02-2015, 07:23 AM
    obelix
    Re: What to Sue for in the Instance of Theft
    So another question.. Since my wife and myself are joint account holders on the account she took from us, does her name need to be listed as plantiff in the small claims suit, or can I sue alone or have a power of attorney to sue on her behalf. What's the best way.. Given that we might not get paid I don't want her to take off work if she doesn't have to.
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