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About a month ago I was caught speeding (12 over the limit and I admit this), however the police officer tacked on reckless driving as he stated I was over the center line. I have my car equipped with front and rear dashcams that proved he was wrong. I decided to fight my ticket.


I showed up for my court date to find that the courthouse is closed for the duration of the Corona Virus. I called both the Clerk of Court and the Magistrate only to be told that there is no court being held for the foreseeable future, but my ticket is still due BY my listed court date, which was today. The only options they gave me were to pay online or by phone, or let the ticket go unpaid and accrue additional penalties until court reopens.

This smells a bit fishy to me. Something about losing my rights to due process and to face my accuser kind of thing.

Can't you pay and then fight or is paying basically admitting and thus removing your right to challenge?

It seems like a bit of a catch, however I can appreciate that chances are their whole system is currently messed up and they've likely no default stance/methods to put into place to deal with the matter in a quick form.

Though its strange that they don't have some kind of waiting/holding system in place to allow you to at least delay. Have you tried asking other people in the system? Sometimes when things change lots of people who should know don't and only a few are in the know of what is going on and changing.

That does sound a bit fishy. In the UK everything has either been delayed (most commonly by 3 months) or moved to remote hearings - telephone conference at worst, video chat like Skype being preferred.

Yeah that sounds like they are just asking for a class action lawsuit... might be worth contacting one of those lawyers who let you tell them your case you start with, and they might be interested due to the bigger picture?

Pretty much what Overread said.

Pay it now, and your worst case scenario is that you get nothing back.

Best case scenario is you can challenge appropriately at a later date and recover the money.

I just did a little internet searching, and it looks like my local Magistrate doesn't know what's going on. As of March 15 my state postponed all court appearances, contestations, and payments due dates until at least April 20 without adding additional late fees.

I’d definitely be coughing up the money right now.

As mentioned in my earlier post, it’s your current worst case scenario, in that it crystallises you’re loss, regardless of future outcome.

 cuda1179 wrote:
I just did a little internet searching, and it looks like my local Magistrate doesn't know what's going on. As of March 15 my state postponed all court appearances, contestations, and payments due dates until at least April 20 without adding additional late fees.

Keep a copy of that statement to argue your case in the future.

I've never had a ticket, but I'm pretty sure that in the US if you pay the ticket what has actually occurred is a plea of no contest/guilty which waives any chance at appeal or contesting the charge irreversibly.

 cuda1179 wrote:
I just did a little internet searching, and it looks like my local Magistrate doesn't know what's going on. As of March 15 my state postponed all court appearances, contestations, and payments due dates until at least April 20 without adding additional late fees.

That makes sense. Otherwise they'd literally, clear cut be violating the constitution (lack of due process). They can delay things, but if so they also have to delay the late fees.