What is the name of your state? California
Hello everyone,
I'm really glad that I found this site and I hope someone can help me.
On November 19, 2007 I was cited for driving 115 mph on I-5 when while I was driving to Los Angeles from Northern California (the speed limit was 70). I know it was stupid of me to drive that fast and I don't deny doing it. I won't do it ever again. The violations are
22348(b) VC – speeding over 100 mph
5200(a) VC – no license plate
Both are marked as infractions.
The last count is because I had bought my car only one month before that happened. And I only received my license plate the week before and I hadn't installed it yet.
About a month later I received a courtesy notice. It stated the bail amount ($862) and the due date (02/19/2008). It didn't say that I had to appear in court and indicated that I could pay an additional $39 to attend traffic school. I was really happy when I received that notice because I though that I could just pay bail amount + $39, attend traffic school and forget about it. However I wanted to call the court and verify to make sure I really didn't need to appear in court. The court was really hard to get a hold of. Three out of four times I would get busy signals when I called and even if I didn't get busy signals the call would just eventually be dropped.
I'm really busy during workdays and can't spend hours on the phone trying to contact the court. So I started procrastinating with that. Eventually, one week before the due date I decide to just pay the fine on-line. However, the website wouldn't allow me to pay. When I entered my citation number, it would just list the violations and say that the case is “Open”. If I clicked on “pay the fine”, it would just take me to the first page where you have to enter citation number.
Then I tried to pay over the automated phone service. The phone service wouldn't allow me to pay either saying “This citation cannot be paid over the phone. You have to appear in court”. I panicked and spent about 3 hours next day trying to get hold of the court. Eventually a clerk answered. I explained her everything and asked her if I should appear in court. She said that I didn't. So explained to her the whole situation about not being able to pay over the web and that phone service told me that I had to appear in court. Then she said “it doesn't say it here that you have to appear in court”. She also said that I could take traffic school. So I asked her how could I pay the fine. She said to send in the check. I told her that I worried that my check wouldn't arrive by the due date. She said “send it in today and it will be fine”. So that's what I did.
The check has never been cleared. And today I got the notice saying:
“You have failed to appear by the above date. You must pay within 15 days from the post-marked date of this notice to avoid a hold or suspension being placed on your driver's license and a civil assessment of $300 will be added to the bail amount due unless you pay the amount above or contact Selema Division of the Superior Court, Fresno. ....” The postmarked day on the envelope is March 6th.
What should I do now? Should I take a day off on Monday and drive to Fresno (I live in Silicon Valley – about 200 miles from Fresno)? Do I need a lawyer? I've heard failure to appear is a really serious charge. Also, if I go on trial, is it possible to request the record of conversation with the clerk? Is there a law which handles cases when court provided wrong/misleading information?
I would really appreciate your help! Thank you very much in advance!What is the name of your state?
Hello everyone,
I'm really glad that I found this site and I hope someone can help me.
On November 19, 2007 I was cited for driving 115 mph on I-5 when while I was driving to Los Angeles from Northern California (the speed limit was 70). I know it was stupid of me to drive that fast and I don't deny doing it. I won't do it ever again. The violations are
22348(b) VC – speeding over 100 mph
5200(a) VC – no license plate
Both are marked as infractions.
The last count is because I had bought my car only one month before that happened. And I only received my license plate the week before and I hadn't installed it yet.
About a month later I received a courtesy notice. It stated the bail amount ($862) and the due date (02/19/2008). It didn't say that I had to appear in court and indicated that I could pay an additional $39 to attend traffic school. I was really happy when I received that notice because I though that I could just pay bail amount + $39, attend traffic school and forget about it. However I wanted to call the court and verify to make sure I really didn't need to appear in court. The court was really hard to get a hold of. Three out of four times I would get busy signals when I called and even if I didn't get busy signals the call would just eventually be dropped.
I'm really busy during workdays and can't spend hours on the phone trying to contact the court. So I started procrastinating with that. Eventually, one week before the due date I decide to just pay the fine on-line. However, the website wouldn't allow me to pay. When I entered my citation number, it would just list the violations and say that the case is “Open”. If I clicked on “pay the fine”, it would just take me to the first page where you have to enter citation number.
Then I tried to pay over the automated phone service. The phone service wouldn't allow me to pay either saying “This citation cannot be paid over the phone. You have to appear in court”. I panicked and spent about 3 hours next day trying to get hold of the court. Eventually a clerk answered. I explained her everything and asked her if I should appear in court. She said that I didn't. So explained to her the whole situation about not being able to pay over the web and that phone service told me that I had to appear in court. Then she said “it doesn't say it here that you have to appear in court”. She also said that I could take traffic school. So I asked her how could I pay the fine. She said to send in the check. I told her that I worried that my check wouldn't arrive by the due date. She said “send it in today and it will be fine”. So that's what I did.
The check has never been cleared. And today I got the notice saying:
“You have failed to appear by the above date. You must pay within 15 days from the post-marked date of this notice to avoid a hold or suspension being placed on your driver's license and a civil assessment of $300 will be added to the bail amount due unless you pay the amount above or contact Selema Division of the Superior Court, Fresno. ....” The postmarked day on the envelope is March 6th.
What should I do now? Should I take a day off on Monday and drive to Fresno (I live in Silicon Valley – about 200 miles from Fresno)? Do I need a lawyer? I've heard failure to appear is a really serious charge. Also, if I go on trial, is it possible to request the record of conversation with the clerk? Is there a law which handles cases when court provided wrong/misleading information?
I would really appreciate your help! Thank you very much in advance!What is the name of your state?