Could I Sue?

[Deeerdre]

I applied for two jobs a couple weeks ago and everything went good at the interview and stuff then they did a background check on me and they found out I have a felony..

But I dont because I have never been arrested for a felony. It said that I got arrested for drug trafficking in Ohio and was in jail for 6 months in Aug of 09.

I wonder how the hell this showed up as me and I wonder if I could get some money out of this or something, I sent my I.D to some company and its gonna take like 2 weeks to clear this up.

 

[zodiiac523]

hmm well who would you attempt to sue?

 

[methusaleh]

Slow down, take a deep breath.

First of all I am not an attorney, and most of my legal education comes from the Peoples' Communist Republic of Massachusetts, where the "49 state rule" seems to apply (whatever the laws we had in MA, do not exist in the other states!).

My two guesses are...

First, that someone with a similar name/DOB to yours has the record in OH and it is a simple misunderstanding. NCIC searches are "soundex" hits last I knew, and some records are pretty bare except for the FBI number, name, DOB, POB, and SID. Thus, if there was no SSN or other identifying info (scars/marks/tattoos, alternate SSNs, etc), it is certainly possible for someone who did no furthur investigation to assume that you are in fact the person whose name popped up. I could imagine a cheap "background check" type company only digging this far.

Second, you may be a victim of identity theft without even knowing it.

Court dockets are public record, perhaps call the court where the alleged crime was adjudicated and ask the clerk's office if they could mail you a certified copy of the judgement. You do not need the whole docket, the judgement alone should contain all of the defendant's identifying info. You will probably have to pay but it is good to get the documentation on your side. You could also get non-certified copies via a FOIA request, however those will not be much good to your attorney if you choose to pursue this.

If you do retain an attorney, he/she will probably fairly quickly eat up the retainer deposit just filing motions of discovery in a situation like this, so be warned. Your initial $2000, or whatever it may be, will quickly go out the window.

Best of luck!

 

[T-AD]

1. Hunt down doppleganger.
2. Kill them.
3. Bring head to the companies you applied to work for.
4. Roll in teh monies.

 

[youngandfree]

I applied for two jobs a couple weeks ago and everything went good at the interview and stuff then they did a background check on me and they found out I have a felony..

But I dont because I have never been arrested for a felony. It said that I got arrested for drug trafficking in Ohio and was in jail for 6 months in Aug of 09.

I wonder how the hell this showed up as me and I wonder if I could get some money out of this or something, I sent my I.D to some company and its gonna take like 2 weeks to clear this up.

Well which is it? You said you didn't have a felony. Then you said you were arrested for drug trafficking and sent 6 mos in jail. Is there a typo or something?

 

[youngandfree]

Sorry I just reread it. I thought you wrote I said not IT Said. It sounds like the same type thing as bad info on your credit report. I don't really know what recourse you have. Get a copy of your background from your local PD or something and compare them.

 

[TeddyNorcross]

You might have a case against the contracted company that did the background check on you for negligence, depending on if it was ****ty research or a case of identity theft. With ID theft, you would be **** out of luck. If it was ****ty research, bring it to the attention of your potential employer, find out if this was the reason you didn't get the job. If that is the reason, and the employer will testify on your behalf (or if they tell you it was the reason you can just subpoena their ass) I’d say you have a shot. Chances are some retard making 8 bucks an hour did the background check on you and saw a name and DOB that were the same and didn’t go any deeper.

 

[bigpapa]

No, you can not sue. the employer can however divulge the information obtained (ie. the exact reports) and contact information of the company. in an attempt to clear your name, contact the company doing the background check and attempt to contact the law enforcement agency and "arresting officer" where this was supposedly commited. oh, and i would sign up for an identity protection program.

 

[Jasen]

UNLEASH THE HALOTESTINNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

 

[Deeerdre]

1. Hunt down doppleganger.
2. Kill them.
3. Bring head to the companies you applied to work for.
4. Roll in teh monies.

Hahaha

No, you can not sue. the employer can however divulge the information obtained (ie. the exact reports) and contact information of the company. in an attempt to clear your name, contact the company doing the background check and attempt to contact the law enforcement agency and "arresting officer" where this was supposedly commited. oh, and i would sign up for an identity protection program.

Ya i think I might need to get some kind of Identity theft program :/ Although I dont know who would want to be me haha