Some people that have been out of the state or country for years, come back to California to discover their driver’s license (DL) is suspended due to a failure to appear (FTA) or unresolved traffic tickets from years ago. This can be very disheartening and confusing, disheartening because you thought you would come back home to a new job, hit the ground running, get a new place, and visit some old friends, just to find you can’t even drive, so now it looks as if you will literally have to “hit the ground running.” If you do not have a car or DL and you live outside of a major city with public transportation, you are indeed, grounded! Getting your DL reinstated without running all over and spending huge amounts of cash is the confusing part. Hopefully, we can clear that up for you.
Clearing the Old FTA and Tickets
When you received that ticket or tickets, way back when, your signature was your promise to the people of the State of California to appear in court or otherwise resolve your ticket. If you didn’t, without cause and after notification, you are subject to another fine for FTA, you may be found guilty in Absentia, according to CA Vehicle Code (CVC) 40903, Offenses and Prosecution, a civil penalty of $300 can be added in accordance with Penal Code 1214.1., after 20 calendar days, and a warrant may be issued for your arrest if it was a misdemeanor or felony, but not for a traffic infraction.
As traffic ticket defenders, Mark Bigger and Paul Harman spend many hours per week in traffic court and one of the things they have noticed is the number of people with an old FTA and thousands of dollars in fines and civil penalties. Normally there are two or three per session that come into traffic court, patiently wait for their name to be called, and then beg the judge to consider their income. They say they just need to get their DL back, so they can go to work, provide for their families, and live a normal life. You’ll even see a bit of a smile when the judge takes off a few hundred or even a thousand dollars from their sometimes, $4000 in fines and penalties. They seem to be happy in their ignorant bliss (ignorance of the system, not their personality).
If they would just take the time to consult a traffic ticket defender about their old FTA, fines, and civil penalties, in many cases a practicing traffic attorney can get nearly all of those wiped out and they’ll just need to pay our flat fee, which they will know exactly how much they will have to pay before entering into an agreement and the reinstatement fee to get their license renewed. This is not a promise that they will pay anything in every instance, but they can do a lot better than a few hundred dollars.
Help You Can Trust without Breaking the Bank
Call Bigger & Harman, 661-349-9300 to inquire about the specifics of your ticket or email: attorney@markbigger.com.
If you have left tickets or an FTA unresolved for years, simply because you didn’t think you had enough money to get it corrected, call Bigger & Harman and give them all the details. They will give you a straight answer on how much it will cost and if you think it’s fair, they’ll go right to work on resolving your FTA and those tickets, which depending on how long ago it was, could be very easy to get the charges dismissed. Remember, the ticketing officer must appear in court. He or she could have retired or been transferred.
Read this comment left on avvo.com by Jason, “…was able to get a three year old FTA totally dismissed without having to pay any additional fees or fines to the court. The best part was that Paul's (Harman) retainer fee is the lowest I've ever paid for a traffic attorney; definitely the best value I've ever received in legal services.”
Bigger & Harman always charge a flat rate rather than by the hour, so you know exactly what you will have to pay no matter how many times they need to appear in court for you or regardless of the paperwork load, no hidden fees, no surprises. Just expert legal representation you can trust.
Or, you can read Bigger & Harman’s Nolo.com page, Nolo is one of the top internet digests for legal experts. Or, Yelp, read the 80 or more reviews left by some of the thousands of clients, mostly positive, with some negative comments, you can’t win every time. But, you can count on them to put up the best possible legal defense on your ticket.
Se habla Español 661.349.9755.