Did you Fail to Appear (FTA) for Your Court Date?

When you miss a traffic ticket court date here in San Diego County two things usually happen: (1) the court adds a $315 civil assessment for not going to court on to the fines and (2) the court notifies the DMV that you failed to appear and the DMV suspends your license. You, or an attorney like us, can go to the court to take care of the missed hearing and that will lift the suspension on your license, or prevent it from happening the day we attend court. Then you can still contest the actual violation by pleading not guilty and setting up a trial date in the future to see if you can get it dismissed and save more money.

Generally, if you would like to contest the citation, we can handle that for you and save you the time and effort of going to court. We handle the missed hearing to get the suspension lifted. We then enter a not guilty plea on your behalf and the court will set a trial date months in the future. We then appear for you on the date of trial and see if we can get the case dismissed. The benefits of hiring an attorney for your case include the fact that if you hire an attorney you do not need to pay the fine amount up front to get a trial. Instead, the court waits to see what happens with the case. If it gets dismissed, then you would not pay the fine for the violation(s). However, the $315 civil assessment may remain or possibly be reduced if the missed court date is handled within 60 days of the original date. In the worst case, we get you a few months longer to pay the fine or set up months payments. Another benefit is that when you hire an attorney you do not need to attend court, the attorney can do it for you. This should save you more than five hours between going to court twice on two separate occasions, waiting in court, and waiting for your paperwork each time. Further, we give you the best shot of getting the case dismissed. We know the law and the loopholes and see what the officer's actually know and remember when they arrive on the trial date. If you would like to retain us to represent you on your ticket, we charge a $200 flat fee for each failure to appear case here in San Diego County. I would be happy to provide a retainer agreement if you want us to handle the whole case for you. Please let me know if you have any questions by calling us at (619) 333-0505 or y emailing us at mytrafficguys@gmail.com