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Comment by tstegart | Hacker News Reader

He should be calling up the plaintiff's lawyers, not BOA. Lawyers don't want to collect only to have to give it back. Find out who they are and call them. Any other attorneys involved as well. Once they have proof the money should not be given out, any ethical attorney would be very wary of handing out money.

It's also likely the money will be sitting in the trust account of an attorney before it actually gets dispersed, so he has more time that way. Contacting the bank for help in the legal system is totally the wrong way to solve this. They've given the money away and can't actually get it back even if they tried. They're a useless avenue at the moment.

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This would be my advice as well; talk to the Plaintiff's attorney. I have all my business accounts at B of A. I shopped around, and they have the best online banking services. Part of the problem is arcane banking laws. Since I opened the accounts at B of A in Texas and now live in Seattle. Even though I walk into the B of A office here in Seattle, my accounts are "out of state" and require all sorts of extra paperwork.

Is there no way for you to change the home branch of your account? I can imagine it being a giant hassle if the routing number would change. At least neither WA nor TX have state income tax.

In Canada, the branch number is part of it so that would definitely have to change but the federal government has sole jurisdiction over banks so out-of-province isn't an issue.

Not bad, contact the defendants attorney in writing, then inform them that you will be notifying the bar as well

No need to wait that long, just call them and say you'll fax over the proof. Lawyers don't want to be a party to a lawsuit later over a few thousand dollars if they might clearly lose it.

They will keep some of his money as fees and give some out to clients, so then if they can't get it back from clients, depending on the rules, they might have to come up with it all themselves. No regular attorney wants that, nor do they want the hassle.

Just call them all up and say this money isn't from one of the defendants, it's an accidental transfer from an unrelated third party and they will be getting it back.

Sure, make the call, but send the email and the letter. Don't allow unnecessary delays because "you didn't notify them properly."

He should find a lawyer friend to help him out. And change his attitude 180 degrees.

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