I’d be interested in hearing the back story. Because unless your name happens to be “David Duke,” I would think that it’s pretty likely that if you return the money and apologize, the worst that would happen is that you get slapped on the wrist.
I can’t help with the backstory, but the guy:
- Knew that the money wasn’t his;
- Verified the bank’s mistake;
- Cleaned out his account;
- Walked out of the bank with the money; and
- Got arrested
It’d be an easier case for a slap on the wrist if he’d returned the funds before step 5, because after you get arrested, claims of mistake and no-harm no-foul tend to come off as disingenuous. Let me also point out that the Times article that I originally cited (or it’s first paragrah, anyway) misreports the charged crime (he was convicted of bank robbery–not larceny) and inserts a fact (that he refused to return the money) that doesn’t appear in the reported case. I relied on the Times article when I said he’d refused to return the money, but apparently I should not have done so.
This is interesting: what happens if you have some sort of automatic transfer system in place such that if your current account exceeds a certain amount, the excess gets put into a high-interest account? So when they come to retract the money, it isn’t there.
Also, is there a time limit on this sort of thing? Here in the U.K., TTBOMK if something is accidentally delivered to you - be it a rubber duck or a yacht - the sender has 6 months in which to recover it after which it becomes yours, but if you inform them of the error they only have 1 month. My search-fu isn’t sufficient to provide a cite for this, alas.
You’re going to have to repay the money. If its a payroll thing, the agreement probably says they can take the money out of future paychecks. The bank also might reverse the transfer to the other account once it gets notice from the employer of the mistake.
Yes. But it varies among jurisdictions. I cited a case about statutes of limitation for this type of claim in my first post.
This actually happened to me. One fine payday I went to the money machine, did what I needed to do, then noticed that I had way too much money in my account. I called up the payroll department and asked, “Are you sure you want to give me double pay?” They said that it was an error and simply didn’t pay me the next time. So I ended up getting two weeks pay two weeks early.
Questions like this make me weep for humanity.
Google “patrick combs junk check” for a long, but related take. This guy “deposited” a fake “junk mail” check for $95K and change into his bank’s ATM as a joke, and to his shock, the money actually showed up. Hilarity and lawyers ensued.
Most of the controversy was over what constitutes a check, but as I recall (I don’t have time to read through the whole thing right now) it was also partly over whether he could legally keep the money because the junk mailer might have accidentally sent a legal check by mistake.
If I’m walking behind a pensioner who drops some money, is that a ‘gift’ for me?
Can I pick it up and run off? :rolleyes:
Are circumstances possible where someone legitimately didn’t notice the error, spent the money, and is now in a situation where repaying the money would be a hardship?
Let’s say I’m the bachelor I was 10 years ago, making plenty of money and irresponsible enough that I rarely check my checking account balance because there’s always enough in there. It floats between 10 and 20k since my paychecks are direct deposit and I spend money without thinking too much about it. During this period, my employer screws up and gives me an extra 10k. I don’t notice. Six months later, I donate all my money to charity and quit my job. They realize their mistake and want their money back. I have none. Who gets screwed? (knowing that the answer is most likely me)
It’s not that simple:
http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Supreme/out/J-130-2004co.pdf
Yes. Intent is crucial. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=mo&vol=/appeals/082004/&invol=wd62943_2004
There is a statute of limitations in many jurisdictions, and some may treat the claim as equitable, which means the mushier concept of laches gets applied.
If the employer knew about the situation–including your plans to quit and the overpayment–you might be able to argue some sort of waiver, estoppel, or acquiescense, but it’s pretty unlikely, unless they did something to lead you to believe you could keep the money.
And why is that, exactly? We can take this out of GQ if you want to discuss further why my question of legal precedence makes you weep for humanity.
Thanks, Gfactor and the many others who constructively fought my ignorance on the topic. I appreciate the resources!
All these reposnses are tailored to the idea that an individual human being is the one receiving money in error, right? Because I don’t think it works the same way for corporations. I think corporations routinely keep money they received in error unless forced to give it back. Look at the frequency of double-billing by hospitals, for example, which relies entirely on people erroneously paying for the same service twice. One study in the news a while back listed some astounding percentage of hospitals doing this; they just make the bill confusing enough, and some people think they have to pay it, and do.
Or if I write an extra zero on my mortgage check, for example, and it still clears, they’ll use it to pay down the mortgage and I’d have to litigate to get it back.
How much truth is there to my suspicion that it works somewhat differently for corporations – i.e., no police taking the hospital billing department down to the station?
Sailboat
Is there a statute of limitations, so to speak. If there was ad eposit in my account that I knew didn’t belong to me and i di nothing and it sat there for a year. Would I be in trouble? Could I keep the money after say, 50 years?
Please see my previous posts in this thread.
Let’s see if this link works:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hT1Lzgk8eWcpN63x7gMpQtbyb3vQD8V00L500
Nub of story: Bank client has same name as another client, money was allowed to be withdrawn (in the amount of 2 mill-ion dollars pinky in corner of mouth). Man charged with Grand Larceny.
Check this out:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/462611.html
:: hands control-z some Kleenex ::
Seriously, it’s not your money, and you’ve got to give it back. About eight years ago, the head of a local nonprofit group here (ironically enough, a citizens-against-street-crime group) was surprised and pleased to find a bank error in the group’s favor, to the tune of quintupling its bank account. He and some of the group’s officers (who had to know the money didn’t belong in the account) went on a self-indulgent spending spree for about a week before the bank figured out what’d happened. Most of them later went to the slammer for varying terms; most of the money had been spent and couldn’t be recovered.
ntucker, in the hypo you posit, I could maybe see the employer (on the civil side) and the prosecutor (on the criminal side) letting you off the hook without repaying the debt, or only insisting upon a reduced repayment. Key factors: you really didn’t notice the money in your account, and you gave it away to charity rather than catching the next flight to Vegas. If you had a dozen adopted ADHD kids, were a beloved pillar of the community, and had never broken the law in your entire life, so much the better.
But I wouldn’t count on it. You’d still be in the wrong, and it was never your money.