California people - Inside - Question about traffic issue
 

So to add to my IRS audit...

I got a ticket a year ago, right before I headed off to Asia where I have been every since, for "failure to stop" at a sign. I forgot all about the ticket and just got news today about it and the fee hike.

It was a $159 ticket that turned into a $742 ticket.

I called and they said it has to be paid in full, no way around it, unless I go to court and ask the judge to reduce the fine to the first price.

Do any of you know a way around this? Paying $742 for a fucking ticket is just stupid.

Thanks!

no show is bad - if you show proof that you have been gone, they might find you responsible for only the initial fee.

Since judges are unequally biased though... Ill bet youre fucked... probably get more fees for even asking ... Theres MY faith in the judicial system...

You will have to appear. When I was in Germany last month one of my friends told me that he got popped for a CA traffic warrant that was many years old.

Only other option would be to hire an attorney to appear for you. There are plenty of attorneys out there that will make appearances for chump change, but there is no guarantee that it would work.

I would contact the Bar Association for the county your ticket was issued in for referrals.

Pay the ticket and don't complain :) simplest way out of the situation.
The way CA needs money right now, I highly doubt they will take the fine down. My last ticket was over $400 bucks and I paid it on time.

Good idea!

Anyone know an attorney that can do such a thing in the Van Nuys area?

Yep.. I think you will have to show up and kinda throw yourself on the mercy of the judge... Let them know you were out of country and blah blah... Make yourself appear to be an upstanding citizen and doing all you can to take care of it soon as you can when you are back... I have heard of plenty of times that they will just knock it back down to the orginal amount.

Ya gotta pay it.. been there

pay it and its over

Here is the fucked up part.

I stopped at the sign for about 2 seconds. FULL STOP.

However where I was staying there are lots of street whores and mexicans, drugs and so on. So I pulled out and they pulled me over. I said for what? Failure to stop.

I told them I stopped and asked to see the video in their car. They then informed me that because my tags were out of state they could impound my car on the spot and arrest me because Cali law states that you are not allowed stay in Cali and not have Cali tags and license. I fucked up when they asked me where I was staying and I told them, which was near there. They asked how long and I said 3 months. That was my fuck up.

So they owned me. Full car search, found nothing, gave me a ticket anyway.

So now I'm gonna pay this for nothing. lol

DWB = California FAILin' :1orglaugh

That's your answer right there.

You want a starving atty. One that is looking for work. Anyone with an office is going to charge you as much as the ticket costs.

I'd start with http://www.lacba.org/showpage.cfm?pageid=1718

I know when I was doing law I would see attorneys willing to make appearances for $25. That was 15 years ago, but there are more attorneys now, so I doubt rates have gone up that much. For example: http://www.court-appearance-attorneys.com/

no, forgetting about a California parking ticket is stupid ;)

I used to get $45 parking tickets for parking on the wrong side of the street in front of my apt back in my porn valley days, I "forgot" to pay a couple over the years too, quite costly mistake LOL

I had a friend that went to jail for a ticket he had gotten for his dog. The dog died, ticket went to warrant and he went to jail.

Probably best to just pay the fine before it gets worse.

trial by declaration.

see if you can do it. I was ticketed in SF when i lived in AZ and did a trial by declaration (in the mail) and got the find dropped.

:2 cents:

Thank ya sir. :thumbsup

Dude, it was TOTALLY stupid and is all my fault. I got it right as I was packing and getting ready to leave the country for a year so my mind was everywhere but on that ticket.

With that said, $742 is just fucking nuts. Do you know how many Thai whores I could dump my load in for that? I'll tell you... 1 sec...

If I wasn't being a cheap ass, it would buy about 25 Thai hookers. If I wanted to be a tight ass... 50 Thai whores. It could buy even MORE Cambodian whores!!!!

FUCK... now I really don't want to pay it. :Oh crap

That only works before it goes to warrant. :2 cents:

even with the simple excuse of "my bad i forgot" and showing that you were going out of town, i can't see the judge not knocking down the fine. especially if you come in right after you got that notice. they do that shit all day every day. no atty needed. i've seen people get their fees get knocked down for lamer excuses

even the original cost of the ticket can get knocked down if you go to court on the scheduled date. the exorbitant fees are for people that have the money to throw away and don't want to be bothered with going to court.

Bro... thats sucks. One time in L.A. I was waiting for a friend who was buying a newspaper at a stand so I stopped for like 30 seconds waiting for him. I was in a no stop zone and the police gave me a ticket just for waiting 30 seconds.. sucked ass. I ended up paying it :disgust

I live in Cali too. Take my advice and pay it. I had a problem with a jay walking ticket and I might as well have borrowed the money from Tony Soprano the way it ended up. Now I pay any Cali tickets I get before my credit cards.

On top of that, you owe the IRS, so you don't really have a leg to stand on. They'll use that and say you just don't like to pay for things, specifically to the government and those people getting their paychecks from your taxes and tickets take that personally.

It's the "political welfare" people.

:1orglaugh

You give "the system" way too much credit. I can assure you that LA traffic court judge does not know jack about your Federal tax issues.

I thought it was stupid to pay a runnin the light ticket out of LA ions ago

5 days in LA County jail 4000 block changed my mind. Never been back since.

If youve been to LA County you'd pay it in heartbeat. Fuck that place.

lmao :1orglaugh - best advice yet...

Here in South FL, it costs only $75 to have any one of dozens of attorneys that specialize in fighting traffic tickets appear in court for you. You just fax them the ticket and pay them their small fee and months later you get a result in the mail. Usually for minor traffic issues they can get it thrown out so you only pay court costs or reduced to a lesser traffic charge with the reduced fine and court costs. Unless you are reckless or DUI, then you have to appear in court yourself.

I don't owe the IRS, they just want to check the books.

Guys... it's not a matter of if I am going to pay it, I will pay whatever it ends up being and will clear it. I'm just trying to get it reduced to the original fee and drop the "$583 DWB is stupid" tax.

159, 752, 400 $ tickets? You've to drive like an insane suicider to get that charges over here and i thought the german police would charge high oO

But anyway ... discussion with cops or court about traffic stuff ... i don't think you've a big chance anywhere ... just pay and it's over ... bad luck

Well, it is my understanding that a German traffic ticket cost is based on your income. So if you are broke your fine will be less than that given to someone that is rich.

Traffic fines in LA are for revenue, not for keeping people off the streets that shouldn't be driving. If you don't pay it on time, they'll keep on upping the payoff until you do. You can opt to do online traffic court usually to keep the points off (if you have insurance that will see the ticket) but they've managed to figure out how to force you to actually pay attention to the online crap for the amount of time they give you now as well... my bf has a couple of tickets from the last month and he's figuring out that they're going to make him suffer for it, one way or another.

Just pay it and be done with it, it's going to turn into more hassle than the money is worth.

then you gotta talk to the judge, plain and simple. they'll knock the fine down.

Not really, we've fixed rates for every traffic crime as no accident was caused, if an accident was caused it usually goes to court. Of course you can try to lower every ticket by fighting it in court, but 90%+ loss quote :Oh crap

Additionally each driving license holder has some kind of accounts where points are collected for the harder traffic crimes, and if you've got to many you can lose your license. Every year without a crime takes away one of the points and every new (hard) crime brings you 1-6 more :) But tickets are cheaper oO

you're lucky there's no warrant yet man. there actually could be. you might want to handle this asap.

ask the judge 'politly' to lower the fine. expalin that you left the counrty and forgoten about the ticket however you wish to pay now... shouldn't be a problem....

Got a fix it ticket in Cali once. Didnt pay it on time, so it quickly turned into a $400 fine. I paid it like a fool, only to be later told by a sheriff at the inspection station that I should've just asked the judge to reduce it. He was baffled that I didn't, said I would've been able to get it reduced easily.

I'd be happy to try to give you a better "big picture" scenario and *possibly* help you if you'd be willing to answer a few questions?

First, though - let me explain a couple of things. A failure to stop at a sign can be for rolling through a stop sign, OR failing to stop BEHIND the white line on the street. If your front wheels were over that line, it wouldn't matter if you were stopped for 20 minutes, they can still ticket you for it.

If it's been a year - your ticket is no longer just a ticket. It's a failure to appear. That is why the fine is so high now.

Okay - on to questions.

What courthouse is it saying you need to go to?

Did you have a valid license at the time you were pulled over? From where? Do you have one now? From where?

Are you planning to come back to CA? If not, WTF are you paying the ticket for? :D

If you are, know that - You *won't* get arrested for a $700 FTA warrant. (as long as you play nice). HOWEVER - If you had a CA license and it was suspended for FTA, (or if the cop that pulls you over is being a dick) they CAN tow the car you're driving, (even IF you play nice).

Why do I know this crap? Asked the husband - who has been a cop in LA for the last 10 years. He might know someone that might be able to help - depending on the court.

Yeah - not all cops are assholes. :D

Take the same evidence you are going to show the IRS with you to traffic court. And please let me know first, I'd like to be there.

Good luck with that. You should just pay your shit on time instead of blowing it off. Sure, nobody really thinks much of a minor traffic violation but they can easily get out of control. Kind of messed up in my opinion.

whats 750 in the BKK? pay it and drop that issue