Greetings LetsRun,
I have an issue I am hoping to get some outside perspective on. I competed in a run this past October and received prize money for finishing in the top three. Below is a link to the races website with the prize money break down.
http://surfingmadonnarun.org/awards-divisions/
I received the stated amount and went on my way unit today. This morning was contacted by the race director saying that the money given was meant for the male and female athlete and I must pay them back half of my winnings or I will be seeing them in court.
The race is put on by an organization that does good work but the handling of this situation is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. For a charity they are being extremely aggressive and threatening with calls, emails, and texts.
They had us pose with oversized checks with the amount written on them and mail out a real check weeks later with the "correct" amount. If this really was a mistake they had so many opportunities to catch it before now. The money has been spent and even though it is not a large amount it is still more than I can comfortably give up.
So I come to you Letsrun with the question what are the legal ramifications of not paying the money back? Can I really be brought to court? How would you proceed if you were in my shoes?