Didn't receive ticket but now have a fta.

My wife got pulled over a couple of months ago for speeding(less than 10 over) and the police officer was going to issue her a ticket but when he went to print it out his printer broke. He came back to the car and said he couldn't give her a ticket because the printer was broke. A month later she gets a failure to appear notice even though she was never issued a citation and never signed anything. Is it legal to submit a traffic situation without issuing a ticket or giving the accused a court date? What legal rights does she have? She's 27 and has never had a moving violation or any other charges for that matter. This is the first time she's ever had to appear in court.

US law only

U lost me. What do you mean, "us law only". Where from Baldwin County Alabama if that matters.

GElite said:

U lost me. What do you mean, "us law only". Where from Baldwin County Alabama if that matters.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's where the ticket was issued (or supposedly was) that matters.
The forum software inserts the question "What state are you in?" to your initial post, but you deleted it rather than answering.

You'll have to contact the court and resolve this (usually by getting a new appearance date).

You just ran into a situation where the police and government can do whatever they like and there is nothing you can do about it except deal with the mess they created.

Even though he could not print the ticket it was still issued, the system automatically logs the ticket and enters it into the system and processes it as if your wife was actually issued the hard copy ticket. It has not way of knowing your wife never got a hard copy and as you can see they do not care that the officer was technically challenge and could not figure out how to print it out or at least follow up later and send her a copy when he figure it out.

You will have to deal with this and show or some how prove the officer in fact never issued the hard copy, and do not expect him to remember, since he will not care, she was one of hundreds of encounters he had between now and then. At least with the old style ticket where you sign and it has carbon copy then you show whether she sign or not.

open the default judgment ASAP

Call the clerk to do this .... file both a motion to vacate default judgment & motion to dismiss (grounds: non-service). Do not argue any facts of speeding - do not mention speeding - simply state that you were not served with anything from the state during the time period in question.

The court clerk should be able to help you do this ....

Who said there was a default judgment?

Taking his post at face value, I would think there is no "default judgment".. since its a FTA...

I agree asking the court clerk how to clear it. It may be as simple as getting on calendar with whatever process they have for that. Stop 1 is the court.

There is no inherent "right" to get a ticket on scene or to sign it. I think some states dont even have you sign them at all and I know some states, like mine, will mail you a ticket (whether you get it in the mail or not is another matter) or other states require you be served in specific ways.