Challenging Tickets

"I fought the law and the law won"
- song title & lyrics

Unlike the song, it is possible to fight the law and win when the law is wrong. Consumerist.com has three recent stories of individuals challenging errors in law.

In the story, Judge Fired In The Case Of The Overdue DVD, a teen was arrested for failing to return a DVD to the library (it was accidently packed when the family moved to a new town. The straw that breaks the camel's back is the DVD had been found and returned BEFORE the arrest occured. The Judge never rescinded the warrant after the library notified the court that all was forgiven. This and 71 other similar mistakes led to the judge being fired.

In, Teacher Defeats Traffic Ticket With The Power Of Math, the victim of a traffic ticket did more than just complain that the yellow light is too short. Her husband measured the light with a stop watch (several times to get an average) and found that it was .8 seconds below the time limit set by the state. The ticket was challenged in court and thrown out.

In Man Receives Ticket While Walking From Car To Parking Meter, a motorist it given a parking ticket before he has a chance to get out of his car and pay the parking meter. His letter to the DMV is a classic and resulted in the ticket being dismissed.

Bottom Line

When challenging a ticket or arrest, keep calm, don't get mad, and gather all the facts and evidence you can.