should I be concerned about possible civil case?

[mwd]

Here is my situation. If anyone had a similar experience or has some legal insights on the matter, I'd really appreciate your advice.

I had a dispute at a restaurant. I and my collegues ordered a $50 bottle of wine but (as we found in the end) were served and charged for a $1000 dollar bottle instead. We refused to pay. Waited for police to show up. Explained what happened and gave our info. Paid for the food and $50 for the wine and left. Noone got arrested, cited, or charged at this point.

It is my understanding that the restaurant can pursue a civil case against us. I think there is little chance for them to win if they do. But suppose we lost. Would it be just about money or could it potentially have some adverse effects on my future citizenship application, in particular on the moral character section of the application? Should I be concerned?

Thanks.

 

[pralay]

Here is my situation. If anyone had a similar experience or has some legal insights on the matter, I'd really appreciate your advice.

I had a dispute at a restaurant. I and my collegues ordered a $50 bottle of wine but (as we found in the end) were served and charged for a $1000 dollar bottle instead. We refused to pay. Waited for police to show up. Explained what happened and gave our info. Paid for the food and $50 for the wine and left. Noone got arrested, cited, or charged at this point.

It is my understanding that the restaurant can pursue a civil case against us. I think there is little chance for them to win if they do. But suppose we lost. Would it be just about money or could it potentially have some adverse effects on my future citizenship application, in particular on the moral character section of the application? Should I be concerned?

As you did not commit any crime or did not get arrested/cited, it's not going to affect your citizenship. In fact, as you resolved the issue in front of of police, it's will be very hard for restaurant management to claim otherwise. You are safe in that regard.

Was the bottle price listed in wine-menu? If it was listed at $50, there is no way they can charge you $1000 legitimately. Period. Story ends there.
In this case, you can report to local consumer protection authority and local chambers of commerce.

On the other hand, many restaurants do not list down bottle price in wine-menu and it's not unusual to charge a bottle $1000 when outside (in retail shops) it's available only in $50 or $100. In that case, changing $1000 is leigitimate provided you asked for the price before waiter serving the wine and waiter gave you the correct number (and that is $1000). Basically it's your responsibility to know the price before buying it.

 

[mwd]

Pralay,
Thanks for the quick reply. What happened is that having little idea about wine we just ordered the second cheapest listed as number 509 for $50. They thought that we ordered number 519 for $1000. They did bring the bottle to show to us but it was a cabernet as we ordered (a different year as it turned out, though), so we did not suspect that the order got mixed up.

Anyways, it seems like you are pretty confident that this should not be a problem for the citizenship application. Thanks for the good news.

 

[harvydonald]

It is good that you waited for the police to show up and there will be no criminal charges against you.
In a civil case your will never be sent to prison, the worst possible outcome can be that you are ordered to pay the restaurant the cost and attorney's fees. You can even buy insurance that will pay for any civil cases against you. You can't buy insurance for criminal charges.
Civil cases do not have an outcome of fellony or misdemeanor. (Traffic Voilations are usually misdemeanors)
Fellonys and misdemeanors work against you when you apply for citizenship.
Outcome of civil cases do not reflect your moral character.