How do I file a lawsuit against a company in the US? And given that I don't have money for a lawyer...

How do I file a lawsuit against a company in the US? And given that I don't have money for a lawyer, would it be reasonable to find a lawyer who could agree to not charge me anything unless we win the case, and take a portion of the settlement if we win?

Specifically, Amazon stole money from me. I ordered two of something, they charged me for two, I only received one. I contacted customer service, and they sent me the replacement at no charge. I thought everything was fine. But then I was notifified that if I did not return one of these items, I would be charged (yet I had already been charged, and I did not request to return anything). I contacted customer support again, and they said it was a mistake on their end and that they would resolve it, and I was told that I would not be charged.
Yet now, they charged me. I paid for two items and received two, yet now they (without my authorization) withdrew a bit over $50 from my credit union account. To my understanding, that is criminal theft.
I obviously have bank account logs, but I do not have chat logs from talking to Amazon customer support. Should I contact Amazon again and request chat logs? Will I need chat logs?

I have never filed a lawsuit before, I don't even know where to begin. What do?

It's going to cost more than 50$ to sue them you retard. Also this is the wrong board.

Lawsuits involve punative damages as well to my understanding, so it wouldn't be only the ~$50, but it would be compensation for the fact that Amazon illegally withdrew money from my credit union account. What if some random guy used my debit card number to withdraw money from my account? He'd probably end up in prison and paying a huge settlement to me. Amazon did just this, so they should have to pay a large settlement as well.

Also, I want to find a lawyer who will agree to receive a percentage of the settlement if we win, but not charge me anything beyond that.

Courthouses have a small staff to help people who are doing self-representation. Just go to the courthouse and ask where that office is

You don't need a lawyer for small claims court especially for 50 bucks.

Thanks. Am I better off self-representing than finding a lawyer who will agree to keep a percentage of the settlement without charging me anything beyond that?

I want more than the $50 back, I want compensation for them stealing money from my credit union account.

Either take the 100 or get nothing faggot, amazon won't show in small claims unless you get greedy

And if I ask for a lot, then they show and lose, because they stole from me?

Contact support again, this time be angry. Don't go to court over this you'll never win if Amazon gets involved.

Why wouldn't I win? They stole money from my bank account. Is that not criminal?

You're retarded.

No court would award you more than what you lost.

It's $50 faggot... I earn that in literally 22 minutes of work. Die.

Because if Amazon gets involved they have infinite funds to drag the court case on as long as possible.

If you're going to small claims court congrats on getting 100 dollars in a year or two depending how long it takes to get to court.

It's a property matter, you're not likely to prevail on anything more than you actually lost. If their error resulted in additional, actual (or special) damages, such as additional surcharges on your card, and you can document these additional losses, you might be able to prevail on those, as well.

However, your irritation or other general damages are not likely to be compensable in any way.

Why is that? If someone commits theft, they are generally held criminally liable, are they not?

Reach out to the credit union. They should have a charge back process if you were changed incorrectly and the business will not fix it provided you used a debit card. They still might be able to help even of it was a draft straight out of the account. It is worth exploring.

It's unlikely to be criminal. This was likely a transaction error and it's doubtful that anyone intentionally wronged you. Their support staff may be internally resolving this claim, but it's unlikely that they put everything on hold for every single transaction. It's more likely that their internal claim handlers examine it, and given their work load it's entirely possible that you might receive a charge in the interim.

So, it's unlikely to be criminal. These damages are more likely to be compensable in the context of civil, not criminal, law.

It was with a debit card, and I'll contact the credit union about it if I can't resolve it with Amazon, but I would expect compensation for the fact that they stole from me. Thanks.

No lawyer is going to waste his time on this, especially on contingency. Filing the lawsuit alone--just court fees, not lawyer fees--will likely cost more than you would get if you won.

It's unlikely to be theft or stealing, because Amazon likely intends to return the value of your transaction. It is certainly unlikely that they actually intend to not return it - this is often an element of most criminal statutes that outline conversion/theft, and it reasonably differentiates an accidental deprivation of property from theft.

Thanks for the explanation. Given that they did withdraw money from my account without authorization, can I sue them for more than the ~$50 even if it was accidental on their part? I did contact them in advance since they warned me that they were going to take my money, and after I contacted them, they claimed that they would not take my money. So for them to still do so was very negligent on their part, if it was a mistake.

But they don't intend to return it. They said they were going to charge me if I didn't ship an item back to them (despite the fact that I paid for the item, and they never gave me any refund for it). I contacted them about it, they admitted they made a mistake and said I would not be charged. Yet then they still ended up charging me, a few weeks later. I paid for the items weeks ago, I received them weeks ago. Yet now within the last day, they took more money from me.

Negligence hinges on reasonableness, and it's likely that Amazon has internal measures to respond to these with reasonable speed. Given the speed of transactions relative to human intervention, a reasonable speed (which is all the law requires) is not going to prevent all of these kinds of occurrences.

Additionally, while you spoke with Amazon support staff, those support personnel have little authority and it would likely be considered unreasonable to assume that they do. Given that they have no actual and likely no implied authority, you would have a challenge in showing that you reasonably relied upon them. Moreover, you would have to evince an actual, or special, damage that resulted from that reasonable reliance which seems fairly unlikely as well.

Ultimately, then, as I mentioned above, it's very unlikely that you can sue them for more than the actual ($50.00 so far) damages that you've suffered. Again, if it caused you to overdraw, or something similar, that might have caused you a cost that, but for this occurrence, you would not have suffered, which might allow you to recover more but you would still have to document this. Additionally, given the filing fees and the process involved, and given that Amazon is likely working to internally resolve the matter, filing in court would probably be a waste of money and time.

If I were in your shows, I might call them about the situation, ask if there's a support or claims ticket and what the turn-around would be. I might also call my bank and appraise them of the situation and ask that they decline the charge (assuming that the charge has not yet gone through) or ask them if they have helpful procedures, like charge backs, for someone in your situation.

Hopefully this has been helpful.

>need lawyer
>no money
Yet another advantage of being a jew we overlook

I don't think Amazon is doing anything to resolve the situation, since when I was told that I would not be charged was some time ago (2 weeks? idk), and yet now just within the last day they charged me. Thanks for th help though.