Well, ain't that a kick in the crotch

[Just Jeepin']

My driver's license has been suspended for what appears to be someone else's crime; a mysterious fictitious plate/no brake light charge in a part of the state where I was nowhere near on the date in question.

I'm due to spend next week working from a state park cabin. This is...unfortunate.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

@just-jeepin I gotta say -- you have certainly had some misfortunes related to vehicles

[jminer]

@just-jeepin oof, that's an unpleasant turn of events. You think you'll be able to convince them it wasn't you without having to hire a lawyer?

[Just Jeepin']

@jminer I have no clue, this is something I've never experienced.

[jminer]

@just-jeepin it seems to work better in rural counties to go without a lawyer for traffic court. If it's a metro area they sometimes won't even talk to you without one.

I've been able to convince a judge or prosecutor in a small town or county to either dismiss something or bargain a points offence away for no points + fine but have had zero luck in larger jurisdictions without paying for a traffic lawyer.

Edit - all my experience is with moving violations and not something serious like this.

[dogisbadob]

[Manwich]

@just-jeepin said in Well, ain't that a kick in the crotch:

My driver's license has been suspended for what appears to be someone else's crime;

Oh man... that's brutal. Sorry to hear that happened to you. This is one of those things where I would lawyer up. Or at least go to a paralegal.

[Chariotoflove]

@just-jeepin
That's weird. The closest thing I had happen is that I had to prove I was not someone with a name similar to mine who lives in Detroit and has a lien against him before my refinance would go through. That took getting a notary. I hope it's nothing more complicated for you.

[Wacko]

@just-jeepin
Was it also a Yellow TJ ?
Cause I one got a letter for an unpaid parking ticket and went to the city to tell them that sure that was the number of one of my cars but that wasn’t the same even the same make as on the ticket. Turns out the person who gave the ticket got one letter/number wrong and turned out to my plate. They canceled the ticket.

[Just Jeepin']

@wacko I have no idea. The online case has zero details other than my missed court appearances.

[BicycleBuck]

@just-jeepin
My mom received a number of fines for unpaid tolls. She discovered that my cousin didn’t bother to get new plates after she sold him her old car. It was his unpaid tolls she received.

[Just Jeepin']

@bicyclebuck One advantage to rarely buying cars is there’s only one car I’ve ever owned that could conceivably be on the roadway and I traded that in to a dealership 7 years ago.

[Shop-Teacher]

@just-jeepin Well that sucks! Good luck getting it resolved.

[kiltedpadre]

@just-jeepin Hopefully you can sort it out without needing to travel halfway across the state or hiring a lawyer.
Heck, if it’s a small town your past stories of the lengths you’ve gone to to let people know they had burnt out tail lights to help convince them.

[nermal]

@just-jeepin That's nuts. Hope it gets sorted quickly, as that's something that can snowball into much bigger issues very quickly. Perhaps you should ping Lehto on it?

[Just Jeepin']

@nermal Who?

[RallyDarkstrike]

@just-jeepin You can't contact them and explain that it wasn't actually you?

[nermal]

@just-jeepin Steve Lehto, the lawyer guy that comes around here from time to time. Talks about driving and auto related legal stuff on the youtubes.

[nermal]

@rallydarkstrike said in Well, ain't that a kick in the crotch:

You can't contact them and explain that it wasn't actually you?

If that worked, everybody that had their license legitimately suspended would do it.

[Mr.Ontop]

@just-jeepin was this a result of someone stealing your plates? I had something similar happen to me a few years ago. Ir sucks. Get a lawyer and document every single thing you've done and where you've been. You may even be able to use tracking data on your phone to prove it too

[DipodomysDeserti]

@just-jeepin said in Well, ain't that a kick in the crotch:

no brake light charge

Now that’s irony. Also, pretty sketchy that they can suspend your license without due process.

[Just Jeepin']

@dipodomysdeserti Yeah, the irony was not lost on me.

I got my due process in absentia. I probably got the mail about my missed court dates but I’m terrible about looking at it, probably lying around here somewhere.

[Just Jeepin']

@mr-ontop No stolen plates. Simply don’t know.

[Just Jeepin']

@rallydarkstrike I’ll certainly try tomorrow but I’m not optimistic it’ll be trivial. Barring some receipt I doubt I have I don’t know how to prove where I was that day.

If it was during work hours, at least that’s something I could probably do, although since I can work from anywhere, it’s not exactly convincing.

[Just Jeepin']

@nermal Guess we’ll see what everyone has to say tomorrow. Shame I didn’t get the mail until after government hours.