Torrance Criminal Defense Attorney
Here is the scenario: You were detained by a store security guard or loss prevention employee for suspected shoplifting. Soon thereafter you receive a very official looking intimidating letter from a law firm or agency demanding hundreds of dollars for “civil recovery”.
A frequent question asked by clients facing a petty theft or shoplifting charges is whether they should pay the demand by the store for “costs” following an arrest. The letter you received was a “civil demand” letter oftentimes from a law firm, or a division of the store itself, that does nothing but send out these intimidating letters after a shoplifting incident, trying to get hundreds of dollars from the accused.
Indeed, the California Penal Code has a provision that allows a merchant to make a demand of up to $500 from an individual accused of shoplifting in their store to recover “damages”. Those stores sometimes contract with law firms to crank out form letters, demanding outrageous sums of money. They hope you’ll either think it will prevent criminal charges from being filed (it won’t) or that it will mean that criminal charges will be dropped (they won’t). In many cases, the store will have the accused sign an acknowledgement that they will accept and pay the requested civil demand at the time they are detained for shoplifting inside the retailer’s business. These signatures are generally obtained under duress and would have little legal weight in a Court of law.
The general consensus in the legal community is that the law firms that send these letters almost never do anything if you don’t pay. One particular firm was quoted recently saying that they send out well over a million letters a year, but rarely file any actual lawsuits. The odds are overwhelming that if you ignore their letter (and the two or three that will follow with increasing amounts demanded), they will in many instances just drop it. You see, they know that even if they were to file a small claims case against you, they likely wouldn’t get anything in a judgment or if they did, it would be far less than the hundreds of dollars they’re asking for and it just isn’t worth their time. There have been instances where the store will go so far as to place a negative entry on the accused credit report, though this is rare and probably illegal unless you agreed to pay the amount or conceded the debt in some other manner. It is much more likely they will pursue the claim against you if you signed an agreement to pay the civil recovery while being detained. They deem your signature to be an acknowledgement of the “debt” and therefore treat it as such for purposes of collection. If you did not sign any agreement to pay a civil demand they can still pursue the civil costs but it is less likely.
Are they entitled to the money? Probably not. Here is why, the store recovered the merchandise in undamaged condition and simply put it right back on the shelf to be resold. Their actual damages are almost always nothing. The store personnel involved in this situation were already on the clock, so no extra salary was paid to deal with you. Consequently, their actual damages are arguably zero.
Here is the bottom line. Paying it, should you feel compelled to, will guarantee that they won’t file that lawsuit against you or continue to hound you for the money by sending letter after letter causing you much stress and worry.
This civil demand has absolutely nothing to do with criminal charges of petty theft or shoplifting. If there is any actual restitution, you’ll be required to pay that amount (not some inflated amount) through the Court.
One thing though is for sure, if you contact the store or the law firm/collection agency seeking the money then they’ll know they’ve got you on the hook. By engaging with them in any way, either by phone or by mail), they will feel they have somebody who’s willing to pay them and they will keep up their efforts to collect from you. You could advertently say something that could be construed as an agreement to pay, turning this into a different situation.
Either pay the amount demanded, if that gives you peace of mind, or ignore them completely. Paying off the demand is not an admission of guilt. The choice is yours. The most important thing is allowing your lawyer to focus on the shoplifting charges in criminal Court.
If you were given a citation to appear in Court and have an upcoming Court date for the criminal charge of petty theft or shoplifting in California, the civil demand is not your biggest concern, the criminal case is. Matthew Ruff can help you keep this offense off your permanent record and avoid being placed on probation for a theft offense. For more information visit his website Los Angeles Petty Theft Attorney.
Recently, one of my clients was confronted by a debt collector who claimed he had a signed agreement to pay the amount and therefore the “debt” is valid and will be pursued. Turned out the client did in fact sign an agreement to pay the civil costs which was weaved into the acknowledgement to stay away from the store for one year, which was signed when he was detained before the police arrived. Therefore beware of this scenario which could bolster any attempts by a future collection agency to collect the questionable “debt”.
At the end of the day, If your decision is to pay it you may want to first try to negotiate the amount by sending a letter (handwritten is fine). Specifically write that you dispute the debt and the amount, however, the check will settle the matter. Attach a check for a lesser amount, say half of what they are requesting, write “payment in full” on the check and write “see attached letter” on the check as well. This is what is called an accord and satisfaction and should resolve the issue. If they send it back you are no worse for the wear.
Here is a sample “accord and satisfaction” letter:
March 13, 2014
Account #XXX-XX-XXXX
Dear Mr. Creditor,
This letter concerns the money you say I owe you. For the past three months I have received bills from you stating that I owe $500 for civil demand costs stemming from an incident of alleged shoplifting. I never agreed to pay these costs and feel I was unjustifiably detained and/or arrested by the store in question. It is therefore obvious that there is a good faith dispute over this amount you say is owed.
In order to settle this alleged debt, I will send you a check for $200 with the explicit understanding that if you cash that check it will constitute an accord and satisfaction. In other words, you will receive from me a check that states “cashing of this check constitutes payment in full.” If you cash this check, that check will take care of any amount you say I owe you, even though it is in dispute.
Sincerely,
Miss Citizen
You must understand that although you send this letter you may continue to be harassed, however it may end the matter and they may close the case.
Matthew Ruff is a criminal defense attorney in Torrance California.
Matthew J. Ruff, Criminal Defense Attorney 
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if i dont pay will if affect me in the future? Am i guranteed that i wont be sent to court? all was told was i could no longer enter the store and a letter would come in the mail.
I got
caught shopping for the first time at krogets. i feel real stupid. so when my letter comes should i ignore the letter?
Why are you defending the shoplifters they committed a crime but yet you make the the people who catch them the bad guy..but a lot of what you said is true
The store extorting money from the parents are the bad guys. My son stole a shirt which I punished him for, store sent me a letter that I somehow owe them 250$ That is a crime, called extortion. If I did that I would be put in jail. It is not right that these big stores go after the little people in this regard.
Friend was prosecuted for petty theft and paid restitution. Now they want another $250 (for 3 cd’s which were returned). Won’t leave her alone. She did 5 days jail time and is banned forever from Walmart. I feel the restitution and fines should have been enough. Why the letter after the fact?
Is this really true? And please respond to this… I have been having letters sent to me from a law firm about paying $500 ($505) for an incident that happened over a year ago. I went to court multiple times and with my public defense attorneys help had the charge be a minor infraction and not go on my record. This happened over a year ago and was taken care of just a little bit less than a year ago. I already paid nearly $500 to the court and to a company to take court mandated theft prevention courses. Now this law firm is saying this is seperate from court and I have to pay another $500. I think this is ridiculous because I already paid almost this same amount and it’s been over a year! But they keep on sending me what appear to be real legal documents and appear to be a legitimate law firm… You are saying I should just not pay and the problem will go away? I have no money to pay it anyways, so that’s what I’m soing and I’ll do for now. However I don’t want this to be detrimental to my future in any way. I’m so relieved I will not have a criminal record but I don’t want to ruin my credit. Please let me know what you think about this situation.
DON’T PAY THEM ONE RED CENT , THEY WILL EVENTUALLY LEAVE YOU BE .
I just got the civil demand letter today for shoplifting at walmart for tge first time asking $300 in 30days, if I ignore it they’ll leave me alone?
Hi, what happened next? Did you pay it? We’re you charged?
I was caught stealing at target I have to pay 500 dollars within the time limit of 21 days this is my first thing I have been charged with since I turned 18 will they take me to jail or will it go on my permanent record?
Lucia,were you charged?
I am 64 years old. I went to a local Peeples store to buy some gifts. I went to the register, where the girl did know who I was. While waiting in line, I looked at some costume jewelry and took a necklace off the former. When it came My turn I put my clothing items and I thought the necklace on the counter to pay. I used discount coupons for the items, they were on clearance and paid the bill and then left the store. I did not pay attention to my receipt and put the clothing away
That was last Saturday, today, Wednesday, I got an anonymous letter that said “that on Saturday survelience cameras from a little all business me shoplifting that necklace and that it could result in criminal charges and loss of my public employment
What should I do?
get an attorney who will sue them. some law firm stands a darn good chance of making a fortune off of this shady practice by filing a class action lawsuit
Sue them for not letting people get away with shoplifting? NIce!
Once the agreement debit has been paid by civil means, the offense is canceled by the criminal route or I can wait
If you pay them can’t they put your name into a national theft database that will be used against you forever ?
I was caught shoplifting a mini cologne at Kohl’s as well….. probably worth 20 bucks or less.
I returned the item which was undamaged and could be put back into the package and be sold.
LP made me sign two papers and told me that while police won’t be called, I was banned from Kohl’s indefinitely across the U.S.
I have yet to receive a Civil Demand but will be sure to ignore it.
I have returned the item that was undamaged, therefore I owe them NOTHING!
I deeply regret what I did and have been losing sleep for time being, but extortion is wrong too.
General consensus is that if the police isn’t called at the spot, no criminal prosecution will follow.
With my amount, and the state’s Statute of Limitations, it’s about a year (and a day) to two years and a day from the incident.
While it’s possible that Kohl’s LP sent the file (and video evidence) to the authority, it’s not likely.
Being paranoid and feeling guilty is enough of a punishment.
Not a moment goes by that I do not feel this or regret my decision.
I have searched my state’s judiciary case with my name multiple times daily but haven’t found my name.
Even if you get a summon to court letter, it’s not the end of the world!
Hire an attorney or request one if you cannot afford one.
Just learn from your mistake and NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!
It was my first time and I’ve been caught at the first time.
I took this as God’s heed and never thought of stealing again!
Okay. When I was younger I was caught stealing a DVD at a Target in Carson. This was back in 2016.
They did send 2 letters back then. I was advised not to pay because no cops were called during the incident and target kept the DVD. Fast-forward to yesterday March 4th 2022. They sent me a letter from a law firm demanding $300 in 2 weeks.
Should I pay? Or ignore?? To be honest I had forgotten this incident even took place until I received this new letter.