&^$%#@ Court system!!!
 

:mad:

When my Camaro got smashed into I called the CHP for an accident report to cover my ass.

The cop that showed up wasn't one of the cool ones, he was the robot type. Since the back of my car was destroyed I couldn't open my trunk to get my proof of insurance out. I offered to call the insurance company and get the policy number or have my wife bring proof since she was on her way to get me.

The cop said "Just mail proof that you had insurance to the court and they will dismiss the case". I asked him if he had to give me the ticket even though the accident clearly wasn't my fault and he said "Then I would have to let everyone go"

Anyways, the notice comes and I send in the proof that I had insurance. It made no mention of a fine. I should have photocopied it.

Now I get a letter that says I owe $778.60!!!

and the remark "INS NOT Acceptable for correction on this violation or appear in court"

I call today and the lady says "Since there was an accident you can't show proof later, you need to show it there"

Well f%#$! I couldn't open my trunk!

Now I have to take a day off work and drive across the planet to go before a judge to explain the deal.

And knowing most judges he will just screw me over so the city can make a bit more revenue.

sucks gotta love it, i got a ticket in mass, driving home from long island after delivering a car, 100 bucks, so 2 weeks went buy i went online to pay it, i paid it, 2 days later i get a email saying its not in there system and to call and have a dmv clerk put it in, well 3 calls later and 1.5 hrs later i was sick of it, hung up each time, so i waited 2 more weeks and i went online to pay the ticket, this time i paid it and all was fine, i then get a letter saying there assessing a 70 dollar late fee and a 30 dollar reinstate fee, i was pissed, anyway called again waited 30 mins no one hung up, **** em , on top of that there email system does not work so i sent them a letter, who knows

Think about getting an attorney to run your documents through the court system.

I can't imagine it taking a lot of time to do. Even if it cost several hundred dollars, by looking at your fine amount you could still save a fair bit of money even after expenses.

or

Build the price of the fine into the cost of repairing your car. Then the people at fault would be paying the ticket.

Good Luck,

Ty

Steve, in California it's all about the money. I had an employee get a ticket on my new ladder truck for several items, all related to not having a carrier permit.

I won't bore you with the details but going to court was an eye-opening experience. Haven't been there in 30 years or so. There was nothing but people driving without licenses, suspended licenses, no insurance, etc. and the judge was just giving fines based on how much he thought he could get out of the people. I mean there were some that were black/white as far as the fine, but most of the infractions gave him latitude and in several cases the identical ticket had completely different fines attached to it. If you looked poor you paid less, guys in suits were getting killed.

One guy had a suspended license, no insurance, and paid about $300 total. The fine for me not having a carrier permit (which I didn't even know what it was, who was required to have it, and the DMV that runs the program didn't require it to register the truck) was over $3K. I met with the DA and got it reduced to $600, but since I was self-employed and the truck is about $90K and needed for me to do business they went for the throat. Even though I convinced the DA that there was no way I could know it was required and the DMV didn't even catch it with the vehicle in front of them for inspection to get it registered. Bottom line, the only way to get the fine removed was if I wanted to go to court over it, and they guessed that $600 was cheap enough to get me to plead out and get it done with.

Good luck, yours likely won't be as frustrating as mine.

Jody

I had something similar happen. The night I went to pick up my camaro from gearhead garage to take it to a show. This was the night my wheel blew off and my car was sitting on the side of the road on the freeway. I called 911 to get help as I thought someone was going to nail the car. I called gearhead and they came out with a flatbed about 30 minutes later, and no cop showed up. We get back to their shop at about midnight and look it over then ended up going back in my truck. I had expired tags for about 2 weeks on my truck, but had the tags in the truck (too lazy or busy) to put them on at the time, and a CHP pulls me over. He asks if I have been drinking, but I told them I had not at least not yet, and he asks for my insurance paper work. I handed him a progressive card with my policy number on it and he says that's the wrong one. I asked him why he thought that as they gave this to me to show cops and others that I had valid insurance. It had the number, the coverage’s and everything, but this ahole says no. So he writes me a ticket, I tell him to blow it out his ass, but still gives me the ticket. Go figure. So I get the ticket and was told to appear in court on a certain day, I tell him they was no f***ing way I was going as I live out of town, and that he was too stupid to know that I lived 120 miles away. He said then you can just pay the fine. I said whatever and took off. I get this thing in the mail 4 months later saying I owe $950 dollars for missing the deadline on the fine. This was their first letter to me. I made a few phone calls, but city workers in Stockton are either retarded, on drugs or inbred. I finally get a court supervisor and she tells me that I can schedule a court date to come in and fight it, but I told them I lived 3 hours away, and I was not going to come to there town to fight a ticket. I also told her that this was the first letter, and the letter stated that, that was their first letter, even though it said that I missed the first letter. Well I would rather pay the grand to not go back to that ****hole town I told her and hung up. I might need to work on my people skills when I get upset. But anyway that's my story. And that's why I don't go to inbred hick towns anymore.

and the best part is....technically the court system has no authority.... kinda like the IRS. but in order to not get harrassed, society plays along with the idea that cops, court system, and income taxes are a way of life.

i could go on and on about it, but i figure the info is out there for all to see and make the own decisions.

Not to rain on your parade Steve, but.... Glove box???


And just to add in to the mess, I recently bailed my brother out of his Driving without a license/insurance fines. Silly me expecting to be repayed as promised!

:thumbsup:

gotta love that