Failing to appear for a traffic ticket or other misdemeanor violation is often referred to as a, “failure to appear,” or “FTA.” Failing to appear is a separate crime under California Vehicle Code section 40509.5. When fail to appear in San Diego traffic court, a bench warrant MAY be issued for your arrest and you WILL be assessed a civil assessment of $300.00. A San Diego failure to appear may also result in a license suspension because San Diego traffic courts report failures to appear to the California DMV. After a couple of months, if you’ve still failed to appear the DMV will suspend your license. If you have a San Diego failure to appear contact me now; I will gladly help you with your case. I offer free and absolutely confidential case evaluations and have successfully handled failure to appear cases in all San Diego traffic courts.
What if My License Has Been Suspended?
Often times, don’t know you had an obligation to appear, or forgot to appear and don’t’ realize there is a problem until your license is suspended. If you’ve received a letter from the DMV, or have been pulled over and cited for driving on a suspended license due to a failure to appear in a San Diego, contact me now. I can often have your license unsuspended in very short order and handle both your failure to appear and driving on a suspended license case. Contact me now.
Alliance One Says I have to Pay Them Now!
If you’ve received a letter from a company called Alliance One – BE SUSPICIOUS OF ANYTHING THEY SAY. Alliance One is a third-party collection agency working for the Court. They have no obligation to advise you of your rights regarding your failure to appear case, and they often use the FTA and license suspension as a way to scare you into waiving your rights to handle the matter in Court – where you may very well prevail; meaning you owe then nothing – a fact the conveniently neglect to tell you.
Will My Failure to Appear Land Me in Jail?
While it is true that a FTA can result in a bench warrant it is not common for most San Diego traffic cases. However, there are exceptions and they are important to note. If you have a failure to appear on a traffic violation that requires a mandatory appearance the court will issue a bench warrant and you MAY be taken into custody if you are pulled over. Second, if your traffic matter has been charged as a misdemeanor, then the court will issue a bench warrant for your failure to appear. To read more about traffic warrants view this page, and if you think your failure to appear has resulted in a traffic warrant contact me now.
Is My FTA a Misdemeanor?
Failing to appear is a separate crime from the underlying infraction or misdemeanor originally charged. In San Diego, a failure to appear for a traffic infraction in San Diego MAY be charged as a misdemeanor, and if that occurs it will certainly increase the complexity of your case. Most failures to appear for traffic cases are charged as infractions but if you are worried you failure to appear falls into the category of exceptions contact me now. I can likely have the failure to appear reduced to an infraction or dismissed and have any accompanying traffic warrant recalled and set aside.
Conclusion
If you have a failure to appear in a San Diego Traffic Court contact me. I have handled many failure to appear cases and know my way through the maze of judicial and administrative obstacles to get your license unsuspended and address the failure to appear and all other associated cases. In many cases I can save you money and time on your failure to appear case. I am happy to provide you with a free and absolutely confidential case evaluation consultation.