Re: Legal Question - Responsibility & Interpretation of Returned (unprocessed) Check

"napper" <napper6162@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Would you please point me to the specific codes governing the resolution of
disputes like mine?

I doubt you're going to find "specific codes" which explain what the
law is in exactly this case.

Check your lease. Did you agree to a fee for returned checks? If so,
what does the language of the lease say? E.g., Does it say "checks
returned by the bank" or "checks returned by the bank due to
insufficient funds?"

If the latter, and the facts are as you've described, then you are
clearly right that the manager has no legal basis for demanding that
you pay a bounced check fee. Whether you choose to pay it anyway
depends on how good your relationship with him is right now and how
good you want to keep it.

If you're unwilling to pay it as a matter of principle, then don't pay
it. Be firm, but friendly; there's no point in antagonizing management
unnecessarily. Explain to the manager that the terms of your lease do
not require that you pay a fee due to a simple misprinted check problem
that no one could have foreseen. If he is persistent, tell him (again,
firm, but friendly) that he's welcome to pursue action against you in
small claims court for the $25 plus court fees if he thinks he's in the
right.

If the lease doesn't put the clause "due to insufficient funds" in the
section about returned checks, then legally, it seems like you're on
the hook for the fee, and it'll be easier to pay it than fight it.

On the other hand, I'd like to hear more about how a check ended up
with "missing routing numbers." That's virtually impossible for a
preprinted check. In most preprinted check books, the checks are
detached from the top or side, not from the bottom where the routing
numbers are. Was this a preprinted check? Have you seen it? What
happened to the routing numbers? If this was a preprinted check with
a defect, and you end up paying the fee, then I'd ask for a receipt
for the fee from the manager, take the check and receipt to the bank
that issues you the blank checks, and demand that they reimburse you
the $25 because of their error.

Or perhaps the check was printed by computer? If so, did your computer
fail to print the check properly and you didn't notice before
submitting it to the landlord? If this is what happened, then dude,
I'd say that you're indeed at fault here, and you should pay the $25
willingly and stop complaining about it.

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