$525 worth of parking tickets in 6 hours?!?

[Chad1984]

What is the name of your state? CA

I recently parked partially over a handicap ramp (marked with extremely faded paint) in the city of San Francisco. I did not realize the spot was a ramp!

I received a $250 ticket at 9pm and another $275 ticket at 2am! Then moved my car at about 3am (I was technically in the process of moving from Louisiana to SF and I have LA plates to prove it).

I am going to write a sappy letter requesting the dismissal of one of the tickets--

Is it worth taking this to court and asking the judge for a reduction?

Should I hire a lawyer?

Thanks in advance for your input!

-Chad

[ErynSMA]

I've heard that you can't be ticketed for the same thing twice in one day with situations like that, but someone more experienced can verify whether that is true or not.

As far as the attorney, it's a non-moving violation. You'll probably pay more for the attorney than you would for the ticket/fees, and I can guarantee you that the court will find you responsible for at least one ticket and court fees.

[Chad1984]

Thanks for the response.

I have no issue with paying the original ticket--but two of them is ridiculous.

One was issued by DPT and the other by SFPD (handwritten) and only the one issued by DPT has been posted to their website (services.sfgov.org) which allows for online payment.

I tired calling them up and searched for the SFPD ticket via telephone, and the automated system could not find a record of it. Could it be possible that the SFPD ticket has been voided? Or will it take more than 48hrs for the ticket to be input into the computer system?

Thanks again!

-Chad

[The Occultist]

You can be charged for the same parking offense over and over and over. After all, each minute you are parked there is an entirely new offense. You MIGHT see some leniency for the second citation, but don't count on it.

It is up to the individual agency how long it takes for the violation to post online.

[patstew]

Originally Posted by The Occultist

It is up to the individual agency how long it takes for the violation to post online.

I'll just add that, assuming it's a handwritten ticket, it's also dependent on when the officer turns it in -- this has sometimes been a bone of contention for us, when the night shift sits on their tickets for a couple of days and meanwhile people are trying to pay them, grrrrrr.

As for how often a ticket can be issued, check your local ordinances. It's a good thing to know. Some of them (ours included) are posted at municode.com.

[HuAi]

Not legal advice, but personal experience. I ran into the same situation in a different state. I paid the cheaper of the two tickets, then went to court, and presented receipt of payment to the prosecutor who dropped the charges on the other ticket at his discretion

[Chad1984]

Thanks.

My current plan of action:

1) Wait one week to see if hand-written ticket is posted to their internal system.

2) Write a letter to the ticket contesting office asking for leniency on one of the tickets

3) If that doesn't work, I will go before the judge with proof that I have paid one of the tickets and ask for leniency.

How does that sound?

thanks

[HuAi]

There's no such thing as a "ticket contesting office." You can pay one ticket (plead guilty) and then plead not guilty to the other ticket and request a trial by correspondence where you will write in your arguments by mail and a judge will decide whether to dismiss it. If he does not dismiss, you are automatically entitled to request a "trial de novo" (i believe within 30 days in CA) and then show up in person and plead your case there.

[Chad1984]

San Francisco actually has a Citation Review center. They give instructions on the back of both tickets on how to contest via writing a letter.

[CourtClerk]

Originally Posted by HuAi

There's no such thing as a "ticket contesting office." You can pay one ticket (plead guilty) and then plead not guilty to the other ticket and request a trial by correspondence where you will write in your arguments by mail and a judge will decide whether to dismiss it. If he does not dismiss, you are automatically entitled to request a "trial de novo" (i believe within 30 days in CA) and then show up in person and plead your case there.

All of this would be all fine and good if they were all traffic tickets... but the advice you gave was incorrect, seeing as if at least 2 of them were parking tickets. Parking tickets are not handled the same way traffic tickets are.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by Chad1984

Is it worth taking this to court and asking the judge for a reduction?

Should I hire a lawyer?

CA parking tickets do not go to court unless you are appealing them. The first hearing is before a panel, administrator, or administrative board assigned to hear challenges to traffic citations (for my city, *I* am the first hearing). The first appeal may be to a higher administrator or board. Finally, you may take the matter to court but you had better have a legal defense before you go that far as I have heard that the person making the appeal has to pony up court costs if they lose (not sure if that is true or if that holds true everywhere in CA, though).

- Carl