I am thinking of going with a court appointment lawyer, since the attorney I spoke with said his fee is $500. I honestly can not afford this, not to mention I just received the letter for JcPenny's attorney's, and they are charging us the 5 times of the merchandise. The attorney told me that they can do that, but that is not what the law was designed for.....the store still has the merchandise. They know this was the first offense, why are they charging the max? And do I have any chance of neogiating this with them ?

I get the seriousness of this, trust me I do, I have recently been discussing this with other parent, and their children or friend's children has had similar things happen, and they were not charged the max by the store, some stole more valuable items or had multiple occurances before the police were involved....why does it seem like they are making an example out of us. Seeing how these are good kids, this is a huge embarrassment to us, it's not like by making an example of us is going to "spread the word", cause we aren't talking, we're hidding. And they are not even looking into the type of "kids" that they are dealing with.
Trust me, I am not trying to say my kids are perfect, I am not nieve, but their grades, their track record at school (or lack of) is all the proof I need, as well as they should need....but they don't care.

Sorry, I am just really frustrated with the cost of all of this.