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“Nine Over”

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are several ways to avoid getting insurance points from a traffic ticket.  Besides getting the case reduced to improper equipment, or using a prayer for judgment continued (“PJC”) , there is something called  ”nine over.”  What does this mean?  North Carolina’s Safe Driver Incentive Plan, otherwise known as the insurance point system, states how many insurance points a driver gets with each type of conviction.  For example, according to the insurance point chart,  a driver who pleads guilty to driving 58 mph in a 45 mph zone  would receive two (2) insurance points, which would result in a 45% increase in her insurance rates for three years.  However, the same insurance point system has an exception, one that traffic lawyers call “nine over.”  The insurance chart says that a driver will not get any points for:

Speeding 10 mph or less over the posted speed limit; provided all of the following are
true:
• The violation did not occur in a school zone; and
• There is not another moving traffic violation for the experience period (an isolated
Prayer for Judgement Continued (PJC) will not count as a prior conviction for the
purpose of this exception).

So, if the hypothetical driver charged with 58 in a 45 hired me, and the ticket was not in a school zone, and she had a clean record for the past three years, then one possible way to keep her insurance from going up would be to ask the D.A.’s office to reduce the charge to 54 in a 45 (nine mph over the speed limit, or “nine over”).  I would then enter a plea to 54 in a 45, and the driver’s insurance would not increase. (Note: Depending on the circumstances, I might be able to help this person even if she got the ticket in a school zone).

Have a ticket?  Give me a call — Don’t risk losing all those savings you got from changing insurance companies!   919-683-2175.  

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Traffic Lawyers and Guarantees

January 27, 2012 By 5 Comments

Potential clients will sometimes ask me if I guarantee the results in traffic cases. It’s an understandable question.  Unfortunately, the answer is “no.”  Now, before you go on to the next website, let me explain why.  The North Carolina State Bar prohibits it.  Legal ethics rules do not allow lawyers to have “contingent fees” in criminal cases.  And generally speaking, even though traffic cases can be very minor, they still are treated like criminal cases.  So, let’s say you are charged with speeding 69 mph in 55 mph zone.  If a lawyer were to tell you, “If I don’t get this ticket reduced enough to keep you from getting any insurance points, you won’t owe me anything,” that would be an improper contingent fee.  That’s because the lawyer’s fee depends on — is contingent upon — the results. One reason for this rule is that lawyers who have not guaranteed a result may not be tempted to do something improper, like offer a bribe or lie, to obtain the desired result.

Do you have a traffic case?  Call me now at 919-683-2175.  I can’t make a guarantee, but I will do my best to get a result that will be worth your money.

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Accidents, Tickets and Insurance Rates

January 17, 2012 By 4 Comments

If you have a wreck and the officer thinks it’s your fault, they may give you a ticket for failure to reduce speed, or failure to yield the right of way, or some other “safe movement” violation.   Hopefully, the accident is not too serious, and your main concern is whether it will cause your insurance to go up!  If you’ve gotten an accident-related ticket, I can probably help you get it dismissed. Usually, I contact your insurance company and ask them to send me a letter stating that they have paid for the damages to the the other person’s car, or have settled any personal injury claim that has been made against you. I then take that letter to an assistant D.A. and usually they will dismiss the ticket.  Depending upon how much your insurance company paid the other driver or injured person to resolve the case, that dismissal may keep your insurance rates from going up. If you have gotten an accident-related ticket, please give me a call at 919-683-2175 so we can figure out the best way to handle your specific case.      

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License Suspensions –Common Causes

January 11, 2012 By 1 Comment

There are all kinds of reasons that a person’s license may get suspended.  Here are some of the more common ones I see.

The first one is failure to take care of a ticket.  If you get a ticket, you’ve got to resolve it in some way.  If you just ignore it, the court will note you as having  ”failed to appear.”   If you don’t take care of the case within 20 days after that, the court will notify DMV, and they will send you a letter telling you that unless you resolve the case your license will be revoked.  If you still don’t resolve it, DMV revokes your license.  Then, three months  – or three years — later you get stopped at a license check or for another speeding ticket and are informed that your license is revoked, which is a very serious matter.  The officer may very well arrest a person charged with driving while license revoked (also known as “DWLR”).  Perhaps even worse, DWLR carries eight insurance points (which would result in a 220% increase in your insurance rates for three years).

At that point, I may get a call.  What we have to do is take care of both the old ticket and the new one.  We file a motion to put the old ticket back on the court docket and work out a plea.  Then, once that’s cleared up, the D.A. is often willing to allow the person to plead to the reduced charge of simply driving without a license (only one insurance point) or will consent to allowing the the person to have a prayer for judgment continued, which may not result in any insurance points.

Another common reason people get their license revoked is for speeding more than 15 mph over the limit while at the same time driving in excess of 55 mph. That’s an automatic thirty-day suspension.  (N.C.G.S. 20-16.1).

Yet another cause of a license suspension is getting convicted within a twelve month period of:  two charges of speeding in excess of 55 mph; or a charge speeding more that 55 mph and a charge of reckless driving, or a charge of speeding in excess of 55 mph and a charge of aggressive driving. (N.C.G.S. 20-16).

If any of the above situations might apply to you, please give me a call at 919-683-2175.  You may think you have no hope to keep your license, but all of us make mistakes and I have found that District Attorneys and judges are usually willing to work with people to help them avoid some of these harsh outcomes.  Sometimes we just just have to ask for a second — or a third — chance.

 

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Fake ID Cards

October 22, 2011 By 20 Comments

If you are under twenty-one years old, you can’t buy or drink alcoholic beverages in North Carolina.  If you use a fake ID, and you are caught, you’ll have to go to criminal (not just traffic) court, and face the possibility of having a criminal record.

If you have been charged with  underage possession or with using a fake ID,  you may avoid a criminal record through a couple of diversion programs.  ”Diversion” means that a case is taken off the usual path leading to trial or guilty plea and the person is given the chance to keep their record clean by doing community service or going to classes. One program is the  ”First Offender’s Program.” As the name implies, your record must be clean (except perhaps a minor traffic ticket), and you can’t have been through the program before. Participants perform community service and pay court fees.  They also may have to write a short paper on substance abuse or have a substance abuse assessment, or both.  And, they must go up to six months without getting any new criminal charges of any kind.  Once the tasks are done and the required time has passed, the District Attorney will dismiss the charges, and the person will not have a conviction on their record.

Another program is the TASC program.  TASC stands for “Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities.”  This program requires the person to be evaluated for drug or alcohol problems.  If no problem is found, then the person attends several evening classes and pays a fee for the classes.  If a problem is found, then the person attends drug or alcohol counseling.  In either event, once the classes or counseling are done, and the fees paid, then the D.A.’s office will dismiss the case. Usually, the TASC program lasts anywhere from two to six months.

If you have been charged with using a fake ID or underage possession,  give me a call at 919-683-2175.  I can help!

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“Improper Equipment”

September 19, 2011 By 17 Comments

Don’t just pay off that ticket!  Let me try to get it reduced for you, maybe to  “improper equipment.”  Read below to find out why, and then call me at 919-683-2175.

Many District Attorneys will allow a person charged with a speeding ticket or other moving violation to plead responsible to the reduced charge of   “improper equipment,” also known as “IE.”  How is this helpful?  Improper equipment is a great result because it carries no driver’s license or insurance points.  It’s the next best thing to having the case dismissed.  Until a few years ago, improper equipment cases didn’t even show up on driving records — a person could get fifteen or twenty speeding tickets over the course of a few years, and each one could get an improper equipment.   Again, this was due to the feedback loop of IE’s not showing up on the driver’s record.  When the assistant district attorney (ADA) looked at the person’s record, it appeared clean, even though the driver had had many tickets reduced to improper equipment.  So, the legislature changed the law to require cases of improper equipment to show up on a person’s driving record.  Improper equipment still carries no points, but when the ADA sees that a driver got an IE a year or two ago, that ADA is not likely to give another one so soon.

As I said above, many District Attorneys will reduce cases to improper equipment.  Many, but not all.  The most notable exception around the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area is Wake County.  Improper equipment is available in Durham and Orange Counties, but not Wake.

When an IE is no longer available, there may be  other ways to keep a driver’s insurance from going up, such as “prayer for judgment continued,” which I  have discussed in another post.

Finally, some people wonder how it’s right to let someone who is charged with a speeding ticket or improper passing to plead to improper equipment.  The simple answer is that it is an outright act of grace or mercy on the part of the State and of the judge, who must approve all pleas.  And who among us does not need a bit or grace or mercy at least a few times in our lives? I know I do!

 Now, please do the proper thing and call or email me about helping you get an improper equipment!  919-683-2175. 

 

Filed Under: Traffic Law, Updates Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

“Oops! I missed my court date.”

July 14, 2011 By 3 Comments

Missing a court date can be frustrating.  I’d be happy to help you out!  Give me a call at 919-683-2175

If you woke up this morning and remembered that you forgot to go to traffic court last week (or last last month, or last year, or five years ago), I probably can help you avoid some or all of the consequences.

The first situation I will discuss is the very-recently-missed court date.  By “recent” I mean within the past 20 days.  If it has been 20 days or less since you missed your court date, I can file a motion for a new court date.  Then, on that new date, I handle the case in the normal fashion, and you probably will have avoided the consequences of missing your court date.

If your missed court date was more than 20 days ago, the clerk of court will notify the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV).  DMV then will send you a letter stating that  unless you take care of the ticket by such-and-such a date, your license will be suspended. In that situation, you will need to get a new court date and resolve the ticket before the suspension date listed on DMV’s letter.

A rather unpleasant consequence that  kicks in after 20 days is the late fee.  Unless you have a really good excuse for missing your court date and then not resolving it within the first 20 days, the court adds a $200 late fee to your court costs.  (That’s pretty harsh,  especially since until about two years ago the late fee was only $50. . . .)  In any case, I sometimes can get the court to forgive the late fee, but you do need to have a good excuse — more than it just slipped your mind.

Sometimes people will call me, often from another state, saying that they went to their local DMV to get their license renewed and were told that their license was suspended because of an unresolved ticket in North Carolina from two — or ten! — years ago.  In that situation, the process is basically the same. I file a motion to reopen the old case, and we work out a plea reduction if possible, and enter the plea.  You then pay the fine and court costs (including the $200 late fee in almost all of those cases).

In those really old cases there is one more step before you are “cleared” to renew your license. in addition to whatever other license renewal fees DMV may charge, they charge an additional fee (at last check it was $50) to remove you from their list of persons who are prohibited from getting a license because of unresolved tickets.

So, it’s obviously a good idea to take care of your ticket on your court date.  But everybody makes mistakes, and if you’ve  missed your court date, there are several good ways to straighten things out.

P.S.

Here’s one final piece of advice on this issue.  Inform DMV when you move!  Clients often tell me that their license was suspended because they didn’t know their court date had changed or because they failed to take some action that DMV supposedly had notified them to take. When I call DMV to find out why my client had not gotten the notice, DMV will tell me that they sent the notice to the address that was on the client’s driver’s license.   The law requires all drivers to notify DMV within thirty days of moving.  As far as DMV is concerned, your official address for receiving official notices is the address that’s on your license. I know it’s a pain, but when you move, get your license renewed with your new address.

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Why Choose Kenneth Duke?

July 8, 2011 By 2 Comments
First, clients benefit from the expertise that I have developed through 26 years of law practice in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.   I have tried cases in the district and superior courts, and I have tried many workers compensation claims before the North Carolina Industrial Commission.  I  know my way around workers’ comp, personal injury and traffic law. 
Further, you usually will be dealing directly with me.  I do have an assistant, but when you call, as likely as not I will answer the phone.  I usually answer client emails myself.  I am willing to discuss directly with you the pros and cons of the various courses of action to be taken in your case, whether it’s a traffic, personal injury, or workers’ compensation claim. 
Call or email me right now and put my skills to work for you. 
Filed Under: Personal Injury, Traffic Law, Updates, Workers Compensation Tagged With: , , , , , ,

New Court Costs — RE-amended Post!

July 5, 2011 By 11 Comments

Here’s my latest experience on court costs.  If you plead guilty to a traffic infraction, the basic court costs will be $188. If you plead guilty to a non-infraction ticket, the basic costs will be $190.  (How to tell if your case is an infraction or a “regular” ticket?   You’ll need to know the file number, which is separate from the citation number.  If the letters between the numbers are “IF,” it’s an infraction.  If the letters are “CR,” it’s not an infraction. )

If we get your case reduced to improper equipment, which is just about the best break there is, short of dismissal, then there will be an extra court cost of $50.  If the judge wants to (but they usually don’t), he or she can also add a fine.

Finally, let me warn you about the “late fees” that came into effect in August of 2011. If you miss your court date by more than twenty days, you will be charged a $200 late fee!  Occasionally, we can get those forgiven, but just be aware of that if you’ve got a pending ticket.

Have a traffic question? Give me a call at 919-683-2175.

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Areas I Cover

June 28, 2011 By 5 Comments

I prefer to stick with Durham County and Orange County. My office is a one-minute walk to the Durham County Judicial Building, and I can easily drive over to Hillsborough, the home of the Orange County Courthouse.  Some of the communities in Durham County are Timberlake, Rougemont, and, of course, the City of Durham .  Orange County has Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, plus a few other crossroads. Major roads that go through the area include I-40, I-85 and Highways 15-501, 147, 54 and 55.

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