Failure to Appear

Failure to appear in a San Diego Traffic Court can be serious.  Failure to appear is a separate crime from the underlying infraction or misdemeanor originally charged.  In San Diego, a failure to appear may be charged when a person fails to appear for their arraignment (the date on their ticket), or their trial date.  Often times people get a ticket for something as simple as failing to wear a seat belt - an infraction that entails a $100.00 fine.  They fail to appear for whatever reason and the next thing they know their license has been suspended, they owe hundreds of dollars, may be facing a driving on a suspended license charge and have to pay hundreds of dollars to get their car out of an impound. 

Misdemeanor

A failure to appear for a traffic infraction in San Diego can be charged as a misdemeanor.  This can significantly increase the complexity of your case because misdemeanors come along with the possibility of jail time, increased fines and assessments.  In the alternative, when you fail to appear in San Diego Traffic Court, the court may levy a civil assessment against you normally in the amount of $300.00.  In some cases the court will charge you with a misdemeanor for your failure to appear and levy a civil assessment against you.   However, if you contact me I may be able to have the failure to appear reduced to an infraction or dismissed, and in some cases the civil assessment reduced or eliminated in lieu of a administrative fee. 

Collection Agency

In San Diego, if you wait for an extended period of time without resolving your failure to appear, or if you fail to appear for your trial date, judgment may be entered against you and your case  turned over to a collection agency.  In most cases the collection agency your case will be turned over to is Alliance One.  Alliance One is very difficult to deal with and not very helpful.  If you attempt to resolve the matter by requesting a new trial you are likely to be told no because your matter is in collections.  In many cases this in not true. If you contact me I may be able to get you a trial or have your charges dismissed in lieu of your civil assessment and fines.  It will depend on the specifics of your failure to appear and the underlying charges.  I have had cases where the court dismissed both the failure to appear and the civil assessment - it can happen. 

License Suspension and DMV hold

In San Diego Traffic Court it is not uncommon for a judge to order your  license suspended for a failure to appear or a failure to pay your civil assessment.  This is very dangerous because sometimes people forget they have court and don't realize their license has suspended.  Often times individuals don't know what has happened until they get pulled over for a separate unrelated infraction.  At that point they get charged with driving on a suspended license and in many cases their car is towed and impounded.  In other cases people don't realize their license is suspended until they attempt to obtain a license in another state only to find out they have a hold on their license in California because of their failure to appear in a San Diego Traffic Court.  They have to get the hold lifted before another state will give them a license and they have to take care of their Failure to Appear before the DMV will lift the hold. 

Conclusion

If you have a failure to appear in a San Diego Traffic Court contact me.  I have handled a lot of these cases and I know my way around the maze that is the San Diego Traffic Court and Alliance One.

I am happy to provide you with a free consultation, problem review and quote you a price to handle your case.  If you decide not to contact me I wish the best, but whatever you do don't drive if you know your license has been suspended because you failed to appear in a San Diego Traffic Court.  It is not worth it.