Rule number one about beating a ticket: never let them load you up with more than one case at a time. A judge never likes to be an easy lay. He will let you off with one and force you to pay the others.
Today I was at the courthouse fighting two tickets for $264. I knew instantly that I would not be able to get off of both of them because they space out their acquittals.
But I was not guilty on either. Firstly I was accused to having excess garbage next to a building I owned. I pointed out that I had complained repeatedly to the borough of Verdun about people putting their garbage next to my building and demand they affront the guilty party. I did not have records of the events and it was around three years ago.
I won one, and lost the other. I should have won both.
Here are some tips. Dress well, hell yeah, wear a tie. Be calm and relaxed and speak briefly and avoid being shrill. Do not show up empty handed, bring an file of papers even if it has nothing to do with the case and most importantly try to have evidence. Any phone call you made, keep a record of it, send letters and keep the delivery stub.The city gets away with a lot of unjust oppression of people who are too lazy to fight for their rights.
I have also been told on good authority that perjuring yourself is quite effective.
ReplyDeleteGood advice. I used to work for a person that owned a lot of real estate and I was often in court for one thing or the other (mostly to get people evicted). The biggest mistake I saw people make was coming to court with plans to tell the judge a long complicated story. These people would get half a sentence out of their mouth before the judge shut them up. The judge would then ask a few pointed questions. People would invariably try to jump back into their big story rather than respond to the judges questions. Many cases took less than a minute. The judge was usually in the middle of the next case before people realized they had lost.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I learned, is to leave immediately when the judge makes his ruling. There is always a chance that the other party will somehow get the judge's attention or find some bit of evidence they had been asked for. If both parties are still present, the judge can change his mind.
Excellent advice. I have mentioned that people at the Rental Board should ALWAYS wait INSIDE the court room and not in the lobby. Even if it is a tiny room, you have the right to watch other cases before you. You have to wait for a new case to begin though, you cannot walk in halfway through. And you have to sorta nod to the judge and perhaps politely ask if you can watch if they ask. But you have that right for sure.
ReplyDeleteI might have mentioned that I noticed that a judge in city municipal court that was refusing to allow people in to cases previous. I later gave him a long speech telling him that he is doing a disserve to the awareness of youth by keeping them out of the room. (The guard told me that the4 judge noticed people were stealing other peoples successful arguments, so that is why he was keeping them out.)
Also, at the Rental Board people often do not have the proper proof of having sent a document, or having it delivered. If you do not have this, dont even bother going. I think I got away once or twice with a delivery issue thing but usually they ll insist on proof of delivery.
And yet another thing: a few times I had tenants at the board who simply paid me the money they owed me in front of the judge. I noticed that the records still suggest that they never paid this. Specify to the judge that you want the fact of full payment on the public record.
About handling just one case at a time; what if they lump everything together and you basically have no choice? Any way out of that?
ReplyDeleteYou could usually set separate appointments, but that means separate trips of course.
ReplyDeleteAnother cool thing: if they give you an incorrect appointment (this happened to me, they screwed up the dates) you can request compensation for the time you took off of work. I plan to claim $220 from them for giving me an incorrect date.
And yet another thing (I really should add this to the actual article) - I was told by an expert that they no longer put you in jail for unpaid tickets. I don't know when this happened or any other details involved with it.