Fix it Ticket $800 Fine. Need Advice!! (hospital, house, price)

[SantaClaritaresident]

I have to admit that I'm a bit embarrass to say the least. This is what happened. I was pulled over for an expired tag, however, had my registration paid for. My tags came shortly after, I put it on my plate and had the CHP office signature, stamp and initial the yellow ticket. I extended the date to take it over to the court house and pay the $10 that showed I went over to show the CHP the tag. After going in and out of town a few times and life getting busy I blanked, and didn’t take it in. I failed to see notices and things until I see a notice for $808 from the court.

Does anyone have any knowledge with this and how I can have this taken care of? Will they really stick to this for something as trivial as a tag? No moving violations here. Thanks everyone.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by SantaClaritaresident

I have to admit that I'm a bit embarrass to say the least. This is what happened. I was pulled over for an expired tag, however, had my registration paid for. My tags came shortly after, I put it on my plate and had the CHP office signature, stamp and initial the yellow ticket. I extended the date to take it over to the court house and pay the $10 that showed I went over to show the CHP the tag. After going in and out of town a few times and life getting busy I blanked, and didn’t take it in. I failed to see notices and things until I see a notice for $808 from the court.

Does anyone have any knowledge with this and how I can have this taken care of? Will they really stick to this for something as trivial as a tag? No moving violations here. Thanks everyone.

Just appear, dress nicely, be polite, tell the judge you were out of town, tags were paid on time & you forgot to put them on, and provide the proof required. The judge will let it slide.

[JesusisLord]

You want a kind and relaxed judge, and if your polite, he could bring down the price big time!

[CESpeed]

greggd is right: If you can show proof that the registration was paid at the time of the ticket, the judge will dismiss that charge, as for the failure to appear, be prepared to pay but you are looking at $100 if you get a nice judge. Too bad you can't appear in the DLA court on Hill, the traffic judge there goes out of her way to give people a break.

[cricket_factor]

You want a kind and relaxed judge? Then be there first in line to go to court in the morning. Bring your proof of correction on the yellow citation and adapt a humble attitude. The longer the morning wears on, the faster the Judge becomes more stern and less tolerant of BS.

I didn't look at your profile, so I don't know if you're a man or a woman, but cleavage is not your friend in the courtroom if you're a woman.

[SantaClaritaresident]

Thanks for your responses to my issue. I will do all that was advised. I'll report on my results. If anyone else has any more ideas let me know.

[the one]

what??? no no no. well not "no" necesarily, but if you got to go to the central traffic court in LA. its quite different.

here is how it goes in LA, centrl court... the one on hill.


the judge wont hear your side of the story till you set another court date, after your initial court date. you might go in prepared, but you are only there for one reason. pay or get another court date.

so what you do is get a court date, once you have said date, make sure the teller gives you an abstract to ensure that all agencies are aware of your court date and dont proceed with suspending your license or issuing a warrant.

once you have a court date set and an abstract(small 10$ piece of paper) you show up to court. you go to the 3rd floor or wherever. line up where it says "english". have a copy of your ticket. they will request your ticket to place you in order of appearance. once they do that they proceed to file you into the court room, then they play musical chairs and shift people around. non english speakers go last...or first. dont remember.

the judge will then tell you what you can do. and really you are only at court on this day to enter a plea of

GUILTY
NOT GUILTY
NO CONTEST

they really disuade you from fighting your case, so unless you have a really tight case, IT MIGHT BE A BIG GAMBLE. they prefer that you enter a guilty plea and if you do, the bail amount is reduced to 100 dollars from 808(depending on the judge). but the catch is that since you have already wasted the courts time they increase the fine by 240%, so even if the judge says 100$, you pay 258 or something after fees and such.

the bad thing is that even if you enter a not guilty plea, and are given another court date, you are STILL required to pay the bail amount(808$) and if you happen to lose in court then that turns into 240%. so it is guna be more than 2,000$!!! in the end.

if you have all the proper documentation and feel you can honestly and definitively win your case then proceed and gamble.

but the problem is that even after your extention you failed to take the ticket to the court. thats guna be your downfall. you might have an understanding judge, but thats the gamble.

i was in a very similar situation. i was mis informed by DMV and even the court on how to fully take care of this ticket. i had my tags verified by the right people. there were just some miscommunications. the courts, cops and DMV are a bit screwed up and make it a bit hard and cofusing. at least they did for me. i thought i did everything right, but i was wrong. in the end i realised that not presenting my ticket to the court on time was my fault. i didnt do it. and aside from death or hospital stays it will be hard for you to convince the judge that it just "slipped" your mind. they heard it all. you better have a good story.


either way good luck. but this also drags the ordeal into months and months and months.