I got my husband in to some trouble...

[envenomm]

What is the name of your state? NJ

Oh my goodness! this is my fault. I was supposed to renew the insurance, on a friday, and i forgot to call up and make the payment. I had completly forgotten about the payment until my husbad called me from the car on sunday morning. He got pulled over for a failed inspection sitcker, and the Police officer gave him a ticket because our insurance lapsed. Imediatly i fixed the problem. He had no Idea. The real big problem with this is that he holds a CDL. He was under the assumption that he got a ticket for failure to show documents. I went online to pay the ticket and he has to appear in court. I went looking further and he could loose his DL !! I feel completly sick because of this. I don't know what to do. Please .... any advice would help. Would it be a good idea for me to talk to the prosecutor?

 

[envenomm]

Please....If i posted this in the wrong forum, let me know so i can re-post in the right one.
I tried searching, but i haven't found the right one yet. I thought this one was it.
thanks again..

 

[Ohiogal]

YOu need to show up and tell the court.

 

[envenomm]

Ok, we have a legal assistance program through my work. the court date is on Wed. I have left a message with this service, but they say they will get back to us in 24-48 hours.

I have no experience with traffic court. If we do not have a attorney, or have not spoken with an attorney, can we talk to the prosecutor, plead our case. and then if they are unwilling to budge, pled not guilty and say we are hiring an attorney?

My husband holds a CDL. And as I read the law he may or may not loose his DL for a year. ( i am not sure it is manditory) And well it is his job to drive, thats why I feel so crappy about this. He doesn't just lose a right, he will also lose his job.

 

[mwbarton]

YOu need to show up and tell the court.

And bring proof that the insurance policy is current.

I know that here in VA we can get things like this (expired state inspection, registration, insurance, etc. ) dismissed by showing that the problem has been corrected, as long as we haven't exceeded a certain grace period. It would be worth the effort to call the courthouse and ask if the same thing exists in NJ.

 

[envenomm]

Thank You,

The policy is current and was only lapsed for 3 days. This was totally an honest mistake. Hopefully there is such a grace period. I am not too confident though, I did have a "consultation" with a lawyer who stated that with the insurance, its hard to get some of the prosecutors to plea down, because they "can't change the facts" that there was no insurance at the time of the stop.

I keep searching to find out if it is a mandatory loss of DL for a year for the first offence? Some sites say it is, some do not. I checked the NJ MVC page, and it is ambiguous. The topic isn't even on their website except under "why do you get surcharges" and "possible reasons why your DL can be suspended" I called the court house and they didn't know. The lawyer said he had to investigate it more, which I gathered as “hire me and I will tell you"

I googled "39:6b-2" and depending on the site, it ranges from 1st offence, fines, community service, insurance points, 2nd offence all that, jail and 2 year DL suspension. And some sites say that it’s a mandatory DL suspension.

 

[Hey There]

12-17-07

envenomm

By going to Google and typing in
"mistake of fact" defence in traffic violations
it will bring you to a webpage
TO CLICK ON : Beat Your Ticket: Go to Court & Win! - Google Books Result by David Wayne Brown - 2005 - Law
A mistake-of-fact defense only works if you reasonably lacked a piece of factual and important information when you broke the traffic law. ...
According to your post you take care of insurance payments and your husband wasn't aware that you were 3 days late in making the payment.
***********************
Had you received a notice from your Insurance Co.that your insurance would be cancelled on Friday if no payment was made?
******************
Hopefully N.J. (as mwbarton replied to your query) has a grace period similar to VA.
Let us know how this goes for you.

Regards,
Hey There

 

[justalayman]

39:6B-2. Penalties

2. Any owner or registrant of a motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this State who operates or causes to be operated a motor vehicle upon any public road or highway in this State without motor vehicle liability insurance coverage required by this act, and any operator who operates or causes a motor vehicle to be operated and who knows or should know from the attendant circumstances that the motor vehicle is without motor vehicle liability insurance coverage required by this act shall be subject, for the first offense, to a fine of not less than $300 nor more than $1,000 and a period of community service to be determined by the court, and shall forthwith forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle over the highways of this State for a period of one year from the date of conviction. Upon subsequent conviction, he shall be subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and shall be subject to imprisonment for a term of 14 days and shall be ordered by the court to perform community service for a period of 30 days, which shall be of such form and on such terms as the court shall deem appropriate under the circumstances, and shall forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle for a period of two years from the date of his conviction, and, after the expiration of said period, he may make application to the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles for a license to operate a motor vehicle, which application may be granted at the discretion of the director. The director's discretion shall be based upon an assessment of the likelihood that the individual will operate or cause a motor vehicle to be operated in the future without the insurance coverage required by this act. A complaint for violation of this act may be made to a municipal court at any time within six months after the date of the alleged offense.

Failure to produce at the time of trial an insurance identification card or an insurance policy which was in force for the time of operation for which the offense is charged creates a rebuttable presumption that the person was uninsured when charged with a violation of this section.

well, by that, if found guilty, the DL suspension will happen. I do not know if there is any dicretion on the part of the motor vehicle bureau or the judge.

I highlighted a section above that may help him. Although I presume he is also the owner, the section following seems to imply the driver may have a defense to some extent if they were ignorant of the lack of insurance.

Sorry I can't help any more than that. Maybe somebdy from Joisey will see this thread and comment.

I do have one question though. I understand that in my state, the insured must be notified that the insurance is to be cancelled by such and such date prior to cancelling. In effect, it gives a grace period from the insurance company. Don;t know if Jersey has any such requirements before insurance lapses.

 

[envenomm]

well, by that, if found guilty, the DL suspension will happen. I do not know if there is any dicretion on the part of the motor vehicle bureau or the judge.

I highlighted a section above that may help him. Although I presume he is also the owner, the section following seems to imply the driver may have a defense to some extent if they were ignorant of the lack of insurance.

Sorry I can't help any more than that. Maybe somebdy from Joisey will see this thread and comment.

I do have one question though. I understand that in my state, the insured must be notified that the insurance is to be cancelled by such and such date prior to cancelling. In effect, it gives a grace period from the insurance company. Don;t know if Jersey has any such requirements before insurance lapses.

Actually, I am the owner of the car, i hold the title. we recently got married. Infact that is the reason why i missed the payment, Our policy was up for renewal. I had to go there in person to give them copies of my DL and registration with my new name on them, and have the policy changed to my married name and have new insurance cards printed up with my married name on them. Normally i put the new insurance cards in the car when i get them. but they had my madien name on them so they were in the house. My husbad gave me the money to renew the policy a few days before the due date. I did recieve a letter that my policy was up and i needed to make a payment to start the new policy. with my work schedual, I can get held up at anytime, and i was. I know it was no excuse It was a Friday, after i left work, I totally forgot about it, until he was pulled over on sunday. Any other time frame this wouldn't have mattered (being 3 days late) because there is a grace period, but this was the end of the policy.

 

[envenomm]

The other problem is that the policy wasnt reto active. It started that Monday after he got the ticket. The insurance offices were not open on the weekends to take care of my policy even if i had remembered. I did try to take care of it as soon as he called me to tell me that he got the ticket. At that point I had to wait until Monday to fix it.

This whole thing is just horrible timing, and not even his fault.

 

[caslerst]

I would check with your insurance company also. My company has a 30 day window where you are covered even after your policy expires. If yours is the same he was not technically driving without insurance.

I THINK the reason for this is because, in Nevada, the insurance company has to notify the DMV of insurance lapses. In order to avoid notifying the DMV only to have the person pay a week later, they give you a grace period.

 

[Zigner]

I would check with your insurance company also. My company has a 30 day window where you are covered even after your policy expires.

You are mistaken on that...
Let's say you have a policy that pay for, in full, that runs from 1/1/07 to 6/30/07. You then drive without insurance through most of July until you are in an accident on 7/28/07. You submit a claim...what are the chances that the insurance will pay?

Our OP already said her policy isn't retroactive, as it was at the end of the policy period...

 

[FlyingRon]

I would check with your insurance company also. My company has a 30 day window where you are covered even after your policy expires. If yours is the same he was not technically driving without insurance.

No, I think your policy will renew automatically even if you don't pay as long as you make the payment in the grace period. However the NJ insurance system is one of the most screwed up in the country (due to the preponderance of personal injury lawyers in the legislature there). I bet the OP is in the JUA (the state's "unable to obtain normal coverage" pool, which has about a third of the state's drivers) which isn't going to extend any courtesies.

 

[lwpat]

Talk with your insurance agent. They may be willing to give you a letter stating that there was no lapse in coverage. Otherwise you have a problem and it depends on the judge.

 

[justalayman]

back to my thoughts, if I may.

and any operator who operates or causes a motor vehicle to be operated and who knows or should know from the attendant circumstances that the motor vehicle is without motor vehicle liability insurance coverage

Since you were the owner of the vehicle, that does make your husband the innocent driver (if you can sell it to the judge). It may mean YOU lose your license though.

Sounds like it's: rock OP hard place.