Macy's Harassing My Parents

I am 32 years old. I was 30 years old at the time of this incident. Macy's accused me of trying to steal a $35 item. It was so stupid of me since I was starting graduate school in one week. Anyway, the court threw it out after a 6 month period. They realized I made a mistake. The judge actually said to me, "You don't belong in here, I don't want to see you again". I replied, "Trust me you won't". Anyway, I had and still have a clean record, thankfully.

Now, Macy's has had a law firm (collection firm) send numerous letters in the year and a half since this incident seeking civil penalties at first for $175, but now for $750. Now these people are harassing my parents by asking them as my "parent/legal guardian" to pay this fine. (I listed my address at the time of this incident as my parent's address). I do not live with my parents anymore since I have my own apartment and I am attending graduate school out of town.

By law, I am not a minor, I am 32 years old, and I looked up the statute they are citing in the demand letter and part (b) of the statute says the following....

Quote:

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(b) Minors.--If the defendant is a minor, the act of July 27, 1967 (P.L.186, No.58), entitled "An act imposing liability upon parents for personal injury, or theft, destruction, or loss of property caused by the willful, tortious acts of children under eighteen years of age, setting forth limitations, and providing procedure for recovery," applies.

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Should I call these people anonymously and tell them to stop contacting my parents? Obviously they are desperate if they are willing to overlook the fact that I am not a minor by asking my parents to pay this civil fine.

By the way, people on this board are saying that the merchant can put this on your credit report if you don't satisfy it. From what I understand, they <b>cannot</b> unless you are taken to court and you are ordered (you lose) to pay the civil fine by a court. If a certified letter is sent to you, do not sign for it, as well as anybody else in your family. The merchant has nothing on you, and you don't need to pay this fine unless they take you to court, and they can only do that if they prove that you received the court summons, i.e. certified letter, or being served in person.

What are your thoughts on this matter, people? I don't plan on paying these people anything.

Also, what is the staute of limitations for this civil claim? State of NY.

Why did you just not pay it when it was $175? stupid stupid stupid. NOw you will have this following you until you do pay it. Good luck. The only advise anyone here can give you is, Pay it, call and talk to them and see what you can work out, or keep letting it get higher until they take you to court.

WHy do you feel you did not need to pay this fine? you say you DID STEAL THE ITEM! so I am a little unsure why you feel you are above the punishment of what everyone else gets. Sounds like to me you are bitter you got caught and instead of being a man and paying your dues, you are acting like a little kid who is mad he got caugtht. But maybe you can spread some light on this matter as that not being the case.

Couple answers to your insults. Firstly, I took my lawyer's advice and didn't pay the demand, but he never gave me an explanation, which is why I am on this board seeking some explanations.

Secondly, yes, I am bitter that I got caught. I made a mistake; an error in judgment. We all do from time to time. If I could go back I would take back what I did.

Now, this "you should have paid it when it was $175" garbage, is just that, it's garbage. I am not worried one bit about these people raising this fee/fine since it is their own self imposed penalty. People like you are naive enough to be scared by this increase. Don't you see that it is a tactic that is designed to scare you into paying up?

I wouldn't have paid this fine if it started at $10, or $5. No way. I paid my dues. I performed 25 hours of community service, and I apologized my tail off to the court, AND the stupid store got its item back with no problems. In addition, I had to put up with the as*hole store security guard personally insulting me as well as my brother who was with me while I was apprehended in the store security office. He laughed at me, made fun of me, and what have you. It was ridiculous.

Now, joke's on him. I am in my last semester of graduate school with a job lined up upon graduation. My starting salary is $70k. What is he making? $8 per hour? $10 per hour? LOL. Anyway, the reason I am on this board is to find out what I can do to stop these people from sending harassing letters to my parents since I am obviously not a minor. Aside from that, I have researched the legitimacy of these civil demand letters and the rights of the shoplifter. I have verified my lawyer's advice in the process; we don't have to pay up unless it goes to small claim's court, and still the store must prove I received the court summons. If I never sign for it and they can never serve me with court papers I am fine.

So, go ahead, point out the error of my ways on that fateful day that I tried to idiotically steal from that store. I will agree with you. In the end though, it turns out it was just a mistake, and I moved on. I have a great job lined up (along with two profitable businesses) and I will be fine. That security guard however, will have a great life making $7 an hour or near minimum wage. Joke's really on him.

I have no answer to your question but what I don't understand is how you think your going to hide from being served for your entire life?

Don't misunderstand me, I agree with you to an extent. I think the store should not have the ability determine civil demands as they do. I think that what LP's do needs to be monitored more as there "wanna be real cop" attitudes and tactics (although they are trained by the company to do so) is outragous at times, espically when it comes to minors. However, I do believe shoplifters do need to be charged.

My answer is simple...don't steal! If your dumb enough to do so, say nothing to the store have them call the police or leave you alone. Chances are you will see the inside of a court room either way.

Oh yeah, Macy's is based in New York, right? That means that they have to go by New York's statute, which is also 2 years.