Ticket from 12 years ago Resurfaced?

[AtticusFinch]

Jurisdiction

California

Just this week my parents received a collection agency letter saying that a ticket from 2004 (12 years ago) that my mom signed was still unpaid, and the price had accumulated to over $860. The reason for the ticket was that supposedly I was in the car (around 7 or 8 at that time) and while being picked up from elementary school I wasn't wearing my seatbelt (even though the site of the ticket was in an near parking lot type area). There was no other contact regarding this ticket until now over this course of 12 years. I was wondering if this ticket should be fought in court, and that if the same general rule that the officer who issued the ticket doesn't show up, the case is dismissed still applies for this? If we do fight the ticket, is the Serna Motion applicable in this case? There is the other option of accepting an ticket amnesty program where half the price of the ticket will be waived, but if the case is brought to trial, the full price of the ticket will need to be paid. Note that my mother's driving license as not been suspended from this.
Do I have a case?

 

[Highwayman]

YOU have no case - it is not your ticket.

Since your mother ignored it for the past 12 years there is no trial now it's either pay it or face the consequences.

By the way, a parking lot is a perfectly legitimate place to receive a traffic ticket.

 

[army judge]

Back in 2004 children 8 years old and YOUNGER (that would be you, OP) were required to seated in a car seat.

I don't think your mother would have received a seat belt violation.

If she was cited,it would have been for not restraining a child in a car seat!!!!


Here's the law from 2004:


http://www.carseat.org/Legal/6_sum_CA_Law.pdf

I suggest you advise mother to write a letter to the alleged collection agency asking for a COPY of the alleged citation.

Alternatively, ask the PD the collection agency claims issued the citation if a copy of the citation exists, or ask the court that processed the citation.

I doubt that the SCAMMER can produce one.

By the way, if such a citation was ever issued, your mother would see it in a certified extract of her driving record.

DMV is where she should go. It only costs five bucks:


https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcm:path:/dmv_content_en/dmv/forms/inf/inf1125



Read on, OP:


Calls from 8006160166 5/6

 

[Highwayman]

I suggest you advise mother to write a letter to the alleged collection agency asking for a COPY of the alleged citation.

It sounds to me as if the OP has a copy of the ticket since he knows the location where it was issued.

The seat belt/car seat discrepancy could just be an officer who found that easier to write or got confused at the time and wrote the wrong section.

I have been hearing more stories here and there from California regarding old traffic citations that fell through the cracks after being unanswered.

 

[army judge]

I've been hearing the outcries, too, my friend.
A certified extract of a person's driving record would prove very helpful in defending the alleged citation.
If the citation was never prosecuted in court, that too would be a great help in defending against the zombie, or ghost citation.

 

[Highwayman]

I run into people all the time in court who don't even remember that they got convicted of a traffic infraction 6 months before.

My feeling (and it is only a hunch) is that the traffic citation here is legit and that mom just didn't act upon it.

I'll bet the OP here will be like many on this site (for some unknown reason) - posted once and will never return!

 

[army judge]

I run into people all the time in court who don't even remember that they got convicted of a traffic infraction 6 months before.

My feeling (and it is only a hunch) is that the traffic citation here is legit and that mom just didn't act upon it.

I'll bet the OP here will be like many on this site (for some unknown reason) - posted once and will never return!

Yes, people do forget, some even ignore until they get caught.

Many posters never return, that's for sure.

I often wonder if they failed to like the responses they received, or did they get popped committing new crimes, or arrested on outstanding warrants?