Court Appearances

Avoid Unnecessary Court Appearances in Municipal Court

Save Time, Money, and Points on your Driving Record

by Steven A. Traub, Esq.

No matter who you are or what you do, your time is valuable to you. The last thing you want to do is spend days and hours in a municipal court attempting to resolve a traffic ticket. Unfortunately, many of the hundreds of thousands on recipients of New Jersey traffic tickets do just that. It is not uncommon to arrive at the municipal court to find standing room only crowds, with lines extending from the courtroom into the parking lot. As a former Municipal Court Administrator and a Superior Court Executive charged with oversight of many of New Jerseys municipal courts, I want to offer some tips designed to save you time and minimize your inconvenience.

Obviously, if you pay your ticket, you will not have to come into physical contact with the court and you will avoid any inconvenience, except of course the inconvenience of writing a check to the court, paying increased auto insurance premiums, and putting you driving privileges in jeopardy. Please do not do this until you have had a free consultation with our attorneys, Berge Tumaian and Steve Traub, to find out if there may be a better way to resolve your ticket(s). For example, one of the most frequent types of tickets issued in New Jersey are "credential" offenses - failure to produce a driver's license, a registration, or an insurance card. There are no points involved and many people simply pay these tickets on line, by mail, or at the court office for $180.00. Did you know that if you plead not guilty and appear in court with your credentials, (without a lawyer) the charge will most likely be dismissed with court costs of $33.00? Also, if you have two or more tickets for multiple offenses, a lawyer from our office will be able to get one or more of tickets dismissed through the plea bargaining process that is permitted in the municipal courts, saving you time, money, (fines, costs, motor vehicle surcharges, and increased insurance premiums), and motor vehicle points.

If you do intend to go to court yourself to contest a minor traffic ticket, such as a "credentials" violation, or speeding less than 15 miles over the speed limit, please make sure that you contact the court seven days before the scheduled court date to enter a "not guilty plea" (it's on the back of the ticket). When you do this, you will be given a new court date. If you do not do this, and instead appear in court on the date at the bottom of the ticket, you will enter a "not guilty plea" before the judge, and you will be advised that your matter will not be heard that day, and that you will be noticed when to return. If you contact the court less than seven days in advance and the court refuses to give you a new court, call our office at least one day in advance of the court date and we should be able to get you a postponement.

Please be sure to arrive at court on time. If you arrive late and miss the "call of the list," you more than likely will not be called until the end of the list.

If you a charged with a serious traffic violation such as DWI, Driving with a Suspended License or Registration, Unlicensed Driver, No Insurance, Leaving the Scene of an Accident, the date on the bottom of your ticket is a first appearance date. At the first appearance, the Judge will advise you of the charges against you, the penalties you may be facing, your right to plead guilty or not guilty, and your right to counsel. If you hire an attorney prior to the first appearance date, your attorney can waive your appearance and you will not have to appear.

If you are represented by a lawyer, you should know that the New Jersey Court Rules require the Judge to call cases with attorneys before cases without attorneys (pro se). This is because lawyers generally need to be in more than one court on any given day.

If you are not a resident of New Jersey and wish to plead not guilty, you may be able to do that without appearing in court, if you are represented by a lawyer. Remember that if you pay a traffic ticket in New Jersey, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission will notify your home state, and it is up to your home state to take action against your driver's license. Also, if you ignore a New Jersey traffic ticket, the NJ MVC will suspend your privilege to drive in New Jersey and will notify your home state of the suspension.

For more information, call us at 856-722-1818 or 856-722-5566; or check out our website http://www.tandtlawoffices.com/

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