What happens if I don't respond to a demand letter by an attorney on time, or a day late? EDIT: They gave me a four day deadline

This is to all those law people. My ex-employer wants me to keep quiet of her unethical behaviour at the job. I quit and they falsely accused me of stealing. I got a demand letter basically to promise I did not take anything and to not ruin the company's reputation. However, they gave me a four-day deadline. This is U.S. law btw.

Top | Newest First | Oldest First

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

Okay. The letter is asking you to follow a course of action.. The consequences of NOT following will be on the letter.. BUT..
It will probably be laid out as either "If you do not comply we are instructed to.....without further notice" In which case they are pretty much telling you what is probably going to happen. (But a day late probably wont make much difference) Or it will be more vague about "possible consequences" which is more likely to be a threat to get you to cave.
Now thats not bulletproof advice. Just on the balance of probabilities.

Espehope21 · 26-30, F

@whowasthatmaskedman If the letter states I have until this date (4 days) to respond, and if I don't respond they will take any legal action required, does that mean they will consider a lawsuit? And can the term "credible evidence" be just the attorney bluffing? There is no evidence I stole anything but rather, that the employer had the object by hand caught on video.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@Espehope21 You know whether you are innocent or not. So you know if they are bluffing. You have to make that call. But they are certainly not accusing you of specifics or threatening definite consequences. Maybe a local radio station has a show with a lawyer giving advice over the phone?

DragonFruit · 61-69, M

You don’t need to respond by the stated date (or at all), but the demand letter is an indication that they are ready to start legal action against you if you don’t respond. Four days is a very short amount of time to demand a response, as many people won’t even get to read it, and might consider hiring an attorney to read and respond to it.
It’s usually a good idea to respond fairly quickly, as it would indicate that you are interested in being cooperative and acting in good faith. If you ignore the demand letter, they will probably feel obligated to initiate a formal legal action against you.