Receiving that notification in the mail by the USDA that your store is in violation of the EBT payment policy can be a death-blow to most businesses. Taking away the ability to accept those EBT payments from a large amount of your customers could negatively impact a business for years to come. Unless you follow very specific instructions to dispute the claim, you may lose the chance to fight in only a few days. Speaking with a lawyer who is experienced in this specific area of law is your chance of getting your business back in order.
These are just some of the reasons to speak to a SNAP violations lawyer as soon as that notification from the USDA arrives in the mail.
Understanding Your Violations Letter – Most shop owners who receive notification they have violated the EBT payments policy are left scratching their heads. Even though the letter clearly details what triggered the investigation, many times the verbiage makes it confusing to understand and impossible to defend. Trying to prove that something was not committed when the shop owner feels they are innocent is something that leads to taking no action, so the shop owner loses by default.
Speaking with a SNAP violations attorney not only helps to make sense of what triggered this investigation, it gives the shop owner the opportunity to get answers to all the concerns they have moving forward. The added stress associated with the unknown can affect the ability to conduct business, so getting answers to all your concerns allows the shop owner to have a clear head and focus on getting this resolved.
Time is Not on Your Side – The longer the shop owner sits and does nothing limits the time an attorney can try and get the charges dropped. The SNAP violations lawyer understands a reply must be submitted in ten (10) days, so making sure the shop owner understands what is at stake and what needs to be done is paramount. Your attorney is going to look at the violation and explain in detail why you received that notification. It could be you provided goods to someone not on the program, your store exchanged benefits for alcohol, or your store redeemed more food stamps that food was actually sold.
Either way, getting a clear understanding why your store was targeted for the violation can help to open the doors of communication and find a solution before the clock runs out.
Gathering Important Documentation – Now that your SNAP violations lawyer has explained about why your store received the violation, it is time to submit the dispute. Instead of spending countless days worrying about what may or may not happen, and then send the courts a pile of paperwork not related to the offense, your attorney has a very systematic plan. Your SNAP violations lawyer has dealt with several of these cases already this year and knows exactly how to craft the response and what attachments are needed to confirm your innocence.
This is the time where you need to do exactly what your attorney requests. Regardless what documentation your attorney needs, it is in your interest to provide them everything as quickly as possible so they have the allotted time to submit it to the court.
Presenting Your Case to Win – Once your SNAP violations attorney submits the paperwork to the court, they will be the go-between from here out. If the court requests more information, your attorney will be the first to know. If the dispute was denied, your attorney will begin preparing an appeal and consulting with you about further information needed to convince the court of your innocence.
Your attorney will then submit an appellate brief that outlines exactly why the charges should be dismissed. Without the help of this lawyer, chances are most shop owners never successfully make it this far.
The importance of speaking with a SNAP violations attorney right at the start is your chance to prove your innocence and go back to being able to accept those EBT payments. Trying to dispute those charges on your own can be difficult, and with so little time to submit your rebuttal, working with an attorney can get you a favorable result.
An awesome firm that truly cares about you. I thought I could handle the USDA on my own, but failed. Todd intervened and helped fix my mistakes.
- Denton, CLIENT Denton