Failure to appear

[golovast]

This is happening in California and here is my currect predicament.
About 4 years ago I got a ticked, unfortunately I didn't appear in court and managed to get a Failure to Appear and the license got suspended. When I did get to court I explained that I never received a notice. I presumed that the judge agreed with me, I paid my fine and was on my merry way. That was 3 years ago. Now I got a new car and apparently my insurance is telling me that I have a Failure to Appear suspension on my record in the DMV. After some research I found out that an FTA suspension stays on your record for 5!! years (DUI suspension is 3 years?!). Of course the insurance doesn't care what the suspension was for. They told me that if I want it removed, I need to get an order of set aside or a reinstatement from DMV. I looked into that, and I may be wrong, but they seem to be for active suspensions, not for the ones that are 3 years old. My question is this: how can I remove this FTA suspension from my record and is it even possible? I appreciate any help. Thank you.

 

[davelu99]

Well, first off, there is really no way to remove a conviction or suspension from one's record unless a new hearing is had. Since you did fail to appear, and your notice to appear usually is the ticket itself (either "appear" by paying the fine, or showing up in person), the FTA charge would stand. If you're really hard up about fighting this, I'd get an attorney - but it's HIGHLY unlikely anything can be done. You'll just have to pay the higher insurance rate for the next 2 years until it's off your record.