What can I do to get my money back after cashing fraudulent check for family member (not our fault!!!)?

Question

About a year ago, my fiance's brother called and asked him to cash a check since he and his wife don't have a bank account. My fiance` figured it was his disability check (which their mom usually cashes for his brother, but she was out of state) so he agreed. When they got to the bank, his brother handed him the check to sign and my man saw that it was a check from Circuit City for $5000.00. He asked his brother about it and his bro told him that they had ordered a bunch of stuff and sent in the money, then Circuit City e-mailed them and said that nothing they ordered was in stock so they were sending a check in the mail (when we asked for proof of the e-mail later on, the story changed to "No, I said they CALLED us"). Well his bank cashed it and there seemed to be no problem. 3 days later my fiance` gets a phone call from the bank saying that the check was fraudulent and the money needed to be returned or they were withdrawing it from his account. He called his brother and told him to get the money together so he could pay it back. His bro said that they had already spent the money. So my fiance` was forced to cash in one of his CD's that was a month away from maturing (needless to say, he lost out on a TON of money with the CD alone). His bro acted like it was no big deal.

A month later we find out we're expecting. So my future MIL calls her son and tells him he *needs* to pay this money back to my fiance`. He calls us and says he'll make $100/month payments, but if we get pushy about it, he won't pay at all. Then his wife starts yelling that she contacted the BBB and she's waiting on them to e-mail her. I asked when she contacted them (when I had to resort to the BBB before, I had a response in 2 days). She said it's been 3 weeks. 2 weeks later we ask if she's heard and she says no because her daughter 'broke' the laptop (yet they were still on their myspace pages). Then she says they contacted her and gave her a court date that's scheduled after Christmas because all the courtooms are full??? (LOL, yeah, that's what we're dealing with).

So I say enough's enough and I call Circuit City about the check. They did everything they could and couldn't find any check that was sent. So Circuit City then called his brother. His bro called us right after and started yelling "Why did you tell them I said it was a refund check. I TOLD you it was for a sweepstakes! Now you're not getting anything!"

So, yeah, they knew it was a bad check the whole time and he took advantage of his little brother because he has money BECAUSE he works hard, everyday. So anyway, we were told to file a police report because we cannot take any action against the bank for cashing it. And, the person who's account is used to cash it, is the person responsible for paying it. Is it fair to have to pay for the bank's mistake? No it's not. But that's not the issue.

Well after getting the police involved, his bro agreed to make payments again. It went from 'starting in 2 months . . .', to 'starting next month . . .', to 'I'll make payments starting in August', and now that August is over it's 'November I'll give ya $300.'

So the question:

What are we supposed to do about this? What kind of legal matter would this be? And is it even possible to sue and actually receive the money back instead of this 'I'll pay you on . . .' nonsense?

And how can I motivate my fiance` to take any action? He and his bro are not close at all. Not in the least. But he keeps putting it off. He threw a fit about a friend owing him $60 and not paying it back. But his bro intentionally stole $5000 (that my fiance` has now admitted was for our son), and it's like "Oh well, I'll deal with it when I can find someone to help me."

And is there anyway that I can legally be involved. The only way we found out about them knowing what they were doing was when I called Circuit City and the cops. He had to verify who I was, though, and that info. was allowed to be discussed with me. Is it that easy with law suits, or courts?

Thanks for reading. Any opinions and suggestions are appreciated greatly.

Answer 1

Well you Brother in Law sounds alot like my son.  He is definetly on drugs and your  fiance knows it. It was definetly a scam but it's really between your finace and his bro, so let the water slide off your back and forget it.  Someday it might be someone in your family with the problem.  Good luck.

Answer 2

You do have legal grounds to sue, but you need proof of all this: copy of the fraudulent check (which your bank should have), proof that you cashed it in your name with your bank account, proof that Circuit City didn't issue a check to him.  But that is really the least of it, if this gets all the way to the court, he could go to jail for dealing in fraudulent checks, as well as anyone else who was involved in the process (if they can find them).

As for it being the bank's mistake, it is not.  Banks assume a check that you are depositing is valid and backed with available funds and are not liable if they aren't.