Check Recovery Fee Statue of Limitations in Georgia

A check recovery fee is the expense associated with collecting money owed on a bad check. According to Georgia law, a person writes a bad check when he issues a check he knows will not clear. Georgia law makes check recovery fees recoverable in the form of damages if the victim sends a demand letter and files a civil action within the state's statute of limitations.

Statute of Limitations

Georgia's statute of limitations for pursuing a check recovery fee via a bad check lawsuit is two years. Actually, unless injury to reputation or loss of consortium is involved, the statute of limitations for all civil actions involving injuries to the person is two years in Georgia. A statute of limitations is a time limit for pursuing legal action against another party. Nearly every act, with narrow exceptions for conduct such as murder, has a statute of limitations. The purpose is to push people to quickly pursue their rights and avoid having to find or use old evidence.

Tolling

The statute of limitations tolls until the injured party discovers she has been injured. Tolling is another way of saying, stop the clock. So, for check recovery fee purposes, the clock stops running on the statute of limitations until the victim discovers what happened. To illustrate, let's say hypothetically, that Joe wrote Kim a hot check on August 1, 2010 and Kim didn't deposit the check until September 1, 2010. When the check comes back one week later, on September 9, 2010, and Kim learns Joe's bank account has been closed for a year, this is when the clock should start running on Georgia's two-year statute of limitations. In Joe and Kim's case, the statute of limitations was tolled from the date Joe wrote the check on August 1, 2010 to the date Kim discovered her injury on September 9, 2010.

Demand Letter

The two-year statute of limitations is not the only time limit to consider when pursuing check recovery fees for a bad check. If you want to maximize the amount of damages you can recover, you must draft and mail a 10-day demand letter, along with an affidavit of service. The letter should put the check writer on notice that his check was dishonored and that he has 10-days from the date he received your letter to pay the check amount, a service charge of $30 or 5 percent of the check's value (whichever is greater) and the check recovery fee. The letter should warn that failure to pay within 10 days will result in a civil suit supporting twice the amount of damages.

Additional Damages

In Georgia, taking the right steps at the right time could mean recovering more than just the check recovery fee. If you draft a 10-day demand letter and send it by certified mail, first-class mail or statutory overnight delivery, you may be able to recover double damages of up to $500, this is in addition to the amount already owed for the bad check. So long as you file within the statute of limitations, you may also be able to recover court costs.